Difficult to find a product more strategic than fuel in a war. Less than anyone, the leaders of the total French oil giant cannot ignore it. However, by holding a part of the Termokatstovoye deposit, from which a liquid hydrocarbon is extracted which, transformed into kerosene, is used to supply Russian combat aircraft engaged in the war against Ukraine, they are exposed to a terrible accusation : Help Moscow in the armed aggression which, for six months, has transformed part of Europe into a zone of death and desolation and threatens the integrity of a sovereign state.
The world survey highlights the supply chain leading to Siberia oil deposits operated by the Terneftegaz company, 49 % owned by total, at the air bases from which the Soukhoï combat aircraft, which, At the start of the conflict, bombed Marioupol, and continue to pound the city of Kharkiv. Aircraft implicated in the bombing of the Marioupol theater which, on March 16, caused the death of some 600 people.
Totalnergies defends itself from any reprehensible act: the gas condensate produced by Terneftegaz is not a fuel, and the refinery which in the end produces kerosene does not belong to it. Moreover, the oil giant respects the decisions of the European Union, which include an embargo on Russian oil but not, in the immediate, on gas.
However, how a large French company who proclaims himself “citizen” and claims to subscribe to the United Nations commitments in terms of human rights was able to continue her deliveries of gas condensate transformable into kerosene after the trigger of the ‘Aggression against Ukraine, February 24? How can its leaders argue that they are for nothing in the transformation of the gas condensate, when they have 19 % of the company Novatek, which holds the factory where it is operated? How can they say that Novatek is not linked to the Russian State, while one of its main shareholders is a familiar with Vladimir Putin targeted by Western sanctions?
“Duty of vigilance “
The reality is that Totalenergies, the only Western oil major to maintain its activities in Russia, plays with fire and seeks to hide behind the ignorance of the use that is made of the products it puts on the market. However, since 2017, French law has imposed on large companies a “duty of vigilance” which gives them the obligation to learn about the practices of their suppliers and their customers, including their subsidiaries abroad , in matters of human rights and environment. The text provides for the commitment of their responsibility in the event of a breach in these areas.
In January, Totalenergies was forced to withdraw from Burma after the revelation by Le Monde from his contribution to the financing of the military junta. In the same way, our information of this day gravity gravity the question of maintaining its activities in a country which pursues an unspoken war in the heart of Europe. The question applies not only to the energy giant, but for the French state: how can Emmanuel Macron claim both to put pressure on the ex-voltal to obtain discounts on fuels in France, spare the Mastodon of a tax on its superprofits indirectly linked to the war in Ukraine and continue to close your eyes on its contribution, even involuntary, to the Russian aggression?