TotalEnergies announces that it has activated a case of “force majeure” for the Arctic LNG 2 project.

Almost two years ago, the French group backed out of this massive project in the Russian Arctic that is now targeted by American sanctions.

TotalEnergy announced on Tuesday that it has initiated a force majeure process over Arctic LNG 2 due to US sanctions against Moscow, which will not allow it to take delivery of the volume of liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced by the Russian project this year. . The United States introduced sanctions against Arctic LNG 2 in November, a key part of Russia’s strategy in the global LNG market, where it wants to increase its market share from 8% to 20% by 2030. We have started the force majeure process. with agreements in place, and we will respect the applicable sanctioning regime in accordance with our principles of action,” TotalEnergy said in a press statement.

“As a result, Total Energy has no plans to remove LNG from Arctic LNG 2 in 2024,” the French group added.

The first LNG carrier to Asia will load by the end of the month

TotalEnergies, which has a direct 10% stake in Arctic LNG 2, announced a decision not to record proved reserves for the project in 2022 due to uncertainties raised by the European, along with a $4 billion provision in particular. Sanctions against Moscow are linked to the war in Ukraine.

The daily Kommersant indicated in late December that the French group and the other foreign shareholders of Arctic LNG 2 – Chinese state oil companies CNOOC Ltd and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), as well as a consortium and company made up of Japan’s Mitsui and JOGMEC – had declared force majeure. The project is controlled by Russia’s largest LNG producer, Novatek, which owns 60%. According to two industry sources, Arctic LNG 2 should load its first LNG tanker for Asia in late January but volumes should be low due to restrictions.