TotalEnergies owner of Novatek
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine which began on February 24, many international, particularly Western companies pulled out of Russia. On March 1, TotalEnergies announced it "will no longer provide capital for new projects in Russia" but has retained ownership of its 19.4% stake in privately owned Novatek, 20% stake in the Yamal project and 10% stake in Arctic LNG 2. This has led to criticism as insufficient, particularly given complete divestment of other major Western energy companies, and the European Union announcement of becoming more energy independent from Russia.
Similarly in August 2022, an investigation by Global Witness showed that a Siberian gas field part-owned by TotalEnergies has been supplying a refinery, which is producing jet fuel for Russian warplanes. This contradicts Total´s claims that this was unrelated to Russian military operations in Ukraine.