Unreasonable to ban Russian LNG before 2025 – TotalEnergies

“We don’t know how to replace [Russian LNG] immediately, but we will be able to one day because there will be more supply,” he told the Francegaz conference in Paris on Tuesday. 

New LNG projects are under development around the world – notably in the US – but most will only come online from 2025 onwards.

Although the EU has banned the import of Russian oil and coal, LNG deliveries are still permitted, but some countries have asked companies to halt new contracts and phase out existing ones. 

Europe continued to import 15-20m tonnes/year – or 20-27bcm/year – of Russian LNG, making up 10-15% of total imports of the gas, which in 2022 amounted to 115m tonnes (156bcm), the TotalEnergies boss said. 

This was in line with Kpler ship tracking data, which showed that Europe (excluding Turkey) imported 20.7bcm from Russia last year, but 166bcm overall.

LNG imports from Russia between January and August this year rose slightly to 14.8bcm compared with 14.1bcm in the same period last year, the data showed.

LNG supply to continue

“I think European governments have understood the equation perfectly,” Pouyanne said, referring to the EU’s decision to continue importing Russian LNG.

“As long as the European authorities do not impose sanctions and ask us to continue supplying the region with Russian LNG, we will do so,” he said.

“TotalEnergies’ position is very clear: we have deconsolidated all our Russian operations, and we are managing our contracts in compliance with sanctions imposed by European authorities,” he added.

Russian LNG coming to Europe is mostly sourced from Novatek – which owns the 22.5bcm/year Yamal LNG terminal in northwest Siberia – and more recently from Gazprom, via the new 2bcm/year Portovaya terminal in the eastern Baltic region.

TotalEnergies has a 20% stake in the Yamal LNG joint venture that is majority owned by Novatek.

“TotalEnergies largely contributed to security of supply last year, we were the largest LNG importer to Europe,” Pouyanne said.

“Gas industry players should congratulate themselves; we were collectively able to bring enough energy to industrials and households last year.”