TotalEnergies CEO: We earn $400 million per year by selling Russian LNG

By America Hernandez

PARIS, 23 July - The CEO of TotalEnergies, who spoke to analysts on a Thursday'results' call, said that the French oil major earns around $400 million annually from selling cargoes of liquefied gas from Russia's Yamal LNG plant.

TotalEnergies has kept its stakes since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but deconsolidated them, so that the money does not appear in official reports. The European Union is importing record-high volumes of LNG from Russia's largest LNG plant Yamal. However, EU sanctions will begin to ban these imports next year.

The lifting of cargoes is one activity, and we have direct access the cash booked by UK entity. This business has an average size of $400 million, but fluctuates because it is linked to Brent oil prices. Brent crude oil prices are at multi-year highs because of supply disruptions caused by the war in Iran.

Pouyanne explained that the other part of income comes from dividends paid on Total's 20 percent ownership stake in Yamal LNG plus a 19.4 percent stake in Yamal’s parent company Novatek.

"Some cash flow has been distributed but not the entire amount... He added that it happens from time to time and is not easy to do because sanctions in Europe and those imposed by Russia have restricted the ability to transfer money from Russia to Europe.

Pouyanne?did not give a number?for amounts repatriated so far. He stated in '2024 that Novatek dividends were about $600,000,000 per year, but they were still stuck overseas.

(source: Reuters)