TotalEnergies Pulls Out of Russia's Novatek with $3.7B Write-down

Tassilo Hummel and Dominique Vidalon
Friday, December 9, 2022
©JHVEPhoto

French oil giant TotalEnergies, one of the last Western holdouts in Russia after the war in Ukraine, said it was withdrawing its two members from Novatek's board and would take a $3.7 billion hit to write off the value of its stake in the Russian group. 

The charge brings the total impairments TotalEnergies has taken on its Russian holdings so far this year to $14.4 billion, still below the $25.5 billion pre-tax impairment rival BP took on the value of its Russian assets at the end of March. 

Unlike BP and Shell, TotalEnergies has held on to several investments in Russia after the country invaded Ukraine, and faced international sanctions for doing so. 

Among its Russian investments are a 19.4% stake in gas producer Novatek and minority holdings in liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG. 

"In view of the European sanctions in force since the beginning of the war, the two directors representing TotalEnergies on the board of directors of Novatek are led to abstain from voting in meetings of the board of directors of this company, in particular on financial matters," a statement from the company said. 

"Under these circumstances, the board of directors of TotalEnergies has decided to withdraw the representatives of the company from the board of PAO Novatek with immediate effect." 

It said it would also "no longer equity account for its 19.4% stake in Novatek", which in turn will result in TotalEnergies recording an impairment of approximately $3.7 billion in the fourth quarter. 

(Reuters - Reporting by Tassilo Hummel and Dominique Vidalon; writing by Silvia Aloisi)

Categories: People & Company News Energy LNG Industry News Activity Europe Production Asia

Related Stories

China's ENN, Zhenhua Oil Ink LNG Supply Deals with ADNOC

China's ENN, Zhenhua Oil Ink LNG Supply Deals with ADNOC

CNOOC Puts Into Production New Oil Field in South China Sea

CNOOC Puts Into Production New Oil Field in South China Sea

Petrovietnam, Petronas Extend PSC for Offshore Block

Petrovietnam, Petronas Extend PSC for Offshore Block

Valeura Wraps Up Infill Drilling Campaign in Gulf of Thailand

Valeura Wraps Up Infill Drilling Campaign in Gulf of Thailand

SLB Names Raman CSO, CMO

SLB Names Raman CSO, CMO

ONGC and BP Sign Deal to Boost Production at India's Largest Offshore Oil Field

ONGC and BP Sign Deal to Boost Production at India's Largest Offshore Oil Field

ADNOC Secures LNG Supply Deal with India's BPCL

ADNOC Secures LNG Supply Deal with India's BPCL

CNOOC Boosts Dongfang Gas Fields Output with New Platform Coming Online

BP Targets 44% Oil, 89% Gas Increase from India’s Mumbai High Field

Saipem’s Castorone Vessel on Its Way to Türkiye’s Largest Gas Field

Current News

Shell-Reliance-ONGC JV Complete India’s First Offshore Decom Project

The Future of Long-Idle Drillships: Cold-Stacked or Dead-Stacked?

TMC Books Compressors Orders for FPSO and LNG Vessels

MODEC, Sumitomo Partner Up for Delivery of Gato do Mato FPSO

Chuditch Gas Field Up for Summer Drilling Ops as Sunda Reshapes Ownership Structure

EnQuest Bags Two Production Sharing Contracts off Indonesia

Hanwha Drilling’s Tidal Action Drillship En Route to Petrobras’ Roncador Field

China's ENN, Zhenhua Oil Ink LNG Supply Deals with ADNOC

MODEC Wins ExxonMobil Guyana’s Hammerhead FPSO Contract

India Stretches Bids Deadline for 13 Offshore Deep-Sea Mineral Blocks

photo

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com