Report: TotalEnergies not to leave Russia completely – CEO

PARIS, Mar 23 (PRIME) -- French oil and gas company TotalEnergies does not plan to leave the Russian market entirely partially because its competitors continue working there because of specifics of their contracts, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in an interview to RTL radio station broadcast on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the company said it would wrap up its Russian operations gradually, and would not prolong contracts for Russian oil and oil product purchases.

“No, I will not do that, and I will explain why,” Pouyanne said, when asked whether TotalEnergies will leave Russia completely.

“I have no operations in Russia today, but I have invested almost U.S. $13 billion in plants. This is not about money, this is about the plants continuing to work regardless of whether I leave or not, and the Russians are good at managing a plant.”

If TotalEnergies writes off the investment, it will only make the sanction-hit people richer, he said.

“Nobody has left Russia. My competitors continue buying Russian gas because we have long-term contracts that cannot be terminated … Do you know what happens if I terminate a Russian gas supply contract? I will have to pay billions to Russia,” he said.

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