TotalEnergies filed a lawsuit due to the development of a field in Russia

PARIS, 14 Oct – PRIME. France’s Minister of Energy Transformation Agnès Pannier-Runachet confirmed that French energy company TotalEnergies had been sued over the development of a field in the Russian Federation, noting that no company could circumvent sanctions.

Earlier Agence France-Presse reported that TotalEnergies was sued, accusing it of developing a field in Russia, the fuel from which was used to refuel Russian aircraft participating in a special operation in Ukraine.

“No company, whether small or large, should exempt itself from the application of sanctions. This is a clear line of the government from the very beginning. Justice will do its job … It is unacceptable for a French company to act around the sanctions,” the minister said in an interview with the TV channel LCI, commenting on the filing of a lawsuit against TotalEnergies.

It was noted that until September TotalEnergies owned 49% of the Terneftegaz enterprise, which is developing the Termokarstovoye gas condensate field in northern Russia. The rest (51%) belonged to the Russian group Novatek, in which TotalEnergies also owned a 19.4% stake. As the French newspaper Monde reported earlier, part of the gas condensate produced at the Termokarstovoye field was used to produce fuel, which was then refueled by Russian aircraft participating in a special operation in Ukraine.

France’s Darwin Climax Coalition and Ukrainian group Razom we stand filed a complaint with the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office in Paris on Thursday, accusing TotalEnergies of complicity in war crimes, according to a France-Presse source. As the plaintiffs argued, by continuing to develop the Termokarstovoye field after the start of the special operation on February 24, TotalEnergies “contributed to providing the Russian government with the funds” necessary for military operations.

According to the agency, TotalEnergies denied all accusations, stating that the gas condensate produced by Terneftegaz was exported abroad and therefore could not be used to produce fuel for Russian aircraft.