TotalEnergies says JV’s gas ends up in jet fuel, but not sold in Russia

TotalEnergies and Russia’s Novatek do jointly produce gas condensate in Russia that ends up in jet fuel, but it is all for export, the French firm said on Friday, after a media report said the fuel might be reaching the Russian military.

A Le Monde report on Wednesday said their Terneftegaz joint venture was involved in supplying gas condensate to make jet fuel that may have been used by Russia’s military in Ukraine. The report was based on energy market data and compiled with help from activist group Global Witness.

In its initial response on Wednesday, TotalEnergies said it did not operate the venture’s infrastructure and that it did not have knowledge or control over Novatek’s sales to the market. On Friday, TotalEnergies released details of Novatek’s response.

“All of the unstable condensate produced by our subsidiaries and joint ventures, including Terneftegaz, comes into our Purovsky condensate processing plant. The Purovsky plant also stabilises condensate from other Russian producers, whose share in the plant’s output does not exceed 20%,” TotalEnergies quoted Novatek as saying. In turn, all stable condensate produced at Purovsky from feedstock supplied by Novatek’s subsidiaries and affiliates is delivered to the Ust-Luga processing complex in the Leningrad region.

“The range of products derived during processing at the Ust-Luga complex includes jet fuel (Jet A-1) that is exclusively exported outside Russia …it does not even have the certification to be sold inside the country,” TotalEnergies quoted Novatek as saying. The French company, unlike many Western rivals, has held on to its assets in Russia.

It owns a 49% stake in Terneftegaz while Novatek owns 51%. Novatek was not immediately available for comment.

Global Witness said TotalEnergies was contradicting itself in its statements and that there should be an enquiry. French Transport Minister Clement Beaune said on Thursday the Le Monde report raised an “extremely serious” issue that demanded clarification.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)