Ukraine (bbabo.net), - Novatek has confirmed that representatives of the French TotalEnergies have left the board of directors. The company itself has stated that it will no longer take into account the stake in the Russian company in its financial statements. The French were forced to go on a disguise, experts say. TotalEnergies continues to receive Russian liquefied natural gas from the Yamal LNG project at an attractive price.
“NOVATEK PJSC informs that the company has received notifications from TotalEnergies representatives Arnaud Le Foll and Dominique Marion that they are resigning from the NOVATEK Board of Directors,” Novatek reports.
The day before, the French energy giant announced that it had begun exiting its Russian assets. TotalEnergies explained that they cannot sell their 19.4% stake in Novatek to the company's shareholders, as provided for in the agreement, because they are under sanctions. But they are recalling their representatives from the board of directors and will no longer take into account the assets in Novatek in their reporting. This will result in a loss of $3.7 billion in fourth quarter 2024 reporting, the French company added.
FNEB deputy director Alexei Grivach believes that TotalEnergies went into forced disguise.
“They were under very strong pressure, of course, at the suggestion of competitors,” the expert said. He added that nothing fundamentally will change in the activities of Novatek and TotalEnergies: “Moreover, they have a small stake in Novatek.”
TotalEnergies continues to be a participant in the Yamal LNG project (20%) and, perhaps most importantly, continues to receive Yamal liquefied gas under a long-term contract. He was signed in 2014 for 24 years. The French energy giant annually receives 4 million tons of LNG (5.5 billion cubic meters of gas) and pays for them according to the price formula with oil indexation, which is now half the current quotes on European exchanges.
According to Vesselfinder, on the way to the LNG terminal in the French port of Montoire is the tanker Georgy Brusilov, which comes with Yamal LNG and transports up to 100 million cubic meters of gas in the form of LNG. Earlier, on November 29, the gas carrier "Vladimir Vize" came there, and on November 20, cargo from the "George Ushakov" was received in Dunkirk, France.
As reported by bbabo.net, unlike pipeline gas, which Gazprom sells under the new payment mechanism, Russian LNG in general is in high demand in the EU countries this year. Its deliveries are significantly higher than last year.
As ship broker Banchero Costa reported in a report, citing Refinitiv data, in January-October 2022, LNG exports from Russia to the EU increased by 41.8%, to 13.5 million tons (18.6 billion cubic meters). For 10 months, Russia's share in the significantly increased European LNG imports amounted to 16.5%.
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