TotalEnergies won’t work with Putin and refuses to write off Russian assets
The CEO of TotalEnergies on Saturday defended the company’s refusal to leave Russia altogether, but said it would never do business with President Vladimir Putin again.
Speaking to CNBC’s Hadley Gamble, Patrick Pouyanne, chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, said he wasn’t ready to write off the company’s assets in Russia because that would be tantamount to giving them to Putin “for free.” .
“What do we do with existing assets? … I am not ready to give them for nothing to the Russian people, to the Russian oligarchs … because besides, it would be contrary to the sanctions,” he said on CNBC’s moderated panel at the Doha Forum in Qatar.
“These assets are there, I won’t give them to Mr. Putin for free. Because that’s what it means to leave today.”
The French company has been criticized for its refusal to write off its oil and gas assets in Russia – for example its stakes in Russian gas producers Novatek and Yamal – like its rivals Shell and BP. Shell would face a $3 billion loss for its Russian assets while BP’s impairment could be in the order of $25 billion.
But Pouyanne argued that “written off” in fact “means nothing” and was little more than an accounting practice.
Responding to rival utilities’ exit plans, Pouyanne said: “They do what they want, I do what they want. [we] want,” but added that he did not know how they plan to get out of the country without violating sanctions. “I would like my colleagues to explain to me how they are going to do it.
Instead of a complete exit from Russia, TotalEnergies said this week that it would no longer provide capital for new projects in Russia and would not renew its Russian diesel and crude supply contracts. “We are absolutely against and we strongly condemn Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” Pouyanne said during the panel on Saturday.
He added: “We will not work with President Putin – please make a difference between Russia and Putin.”
In a statement on Tuesday, TotalEnergies said, “Abandoning these interests for no consideration would enrich Russian investors, contradicting the purpose of the sanctions,” and added that Russian sanctions and laws were preventing the company from finding a non-Russian buyer. for these assets. .
“We have created a…monster”
Pouyanne said lessons should be learned from Europe’s reliance on Russian gas. The EU imported 45% of its gas from Russia last year, according to the International Energy Agency.
“It’s true that we have created a situation where we are dependent on them,” he said, given Europe’s decision to go for the low-cost Russian option. “It’s a lesson for all of us.”
Putin “didn’t force” Europe to buy Russian gas, he said. “We favored the cheapest energy… Yes, we created a kind of monster, but on both sides, you know.”
He added that people now had to think about how much they were willing to pay for the cost of energy security without Russia.
