This Sunday, the non-governmental organization Global Witness accused France’s Total Energies and Britain’s Shell of selling Russian gas, saying the latter would have made “hundreds of millions” of dollars in doing so after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“LNG export [gás natural liquefeito] from Russia are helping finance that country’s war in Ukraine and are estimated at $21 billion in 2022. [cerca de 19,2 mil milhões de euros]”, says the Global Witness report.
Global Witness “estimated that Shell made hundreds of millions of dollars trading Russian LNG last year.”
Also in May, the British giant “bought and sold some 170,000 cubic meters of Russian gas carried by the Nikolai Zubov oil tanker,” laments the NGO.
According to Global Witness, three companies sold more Russian LNG than Shell: two of them are Russian, and the third is French TotalEnergies.
“Despite the war crimes this trade facilitates, its funding is legal,” lamented Global Witness.
“Companies are not prohibited from trading Russian gas and, unlike the US or the EU, [União Europeia] nor the UK has banned the import of Russian gas,” he continues. But “the UK and EU member states must act,” he defended.
Asked by AFP, Shell and Total Energies said they were bound by existing contracts, although they abandoned their partnership with Russia after invading Ukraine last year.
Shell “still has long-term contractual obligations,” a company spokesman said.
“There is a dilemma between putting pressure on the Russian government for its atrocities in Ukraine and ensuring a stable and secure energy supply. Governments must make incredibly difficult trade-offs that must be made,” the company said. AFP.
For its part, TotalEnergies says it has “implemented a gradual suspension of Russian assets, ensuring the continued supply of LNG to Europe.”
Total Energies “remembers its obligation to contribute to the security of Europe’s gas supply through long-term contracts that it must comply with until European governments impose sanctions on Russian gas.”
The French company also points out that it “already sold its assets in Russia, which did not contribute to the energy supply of the continent.”