TotalEnergies CEO: It’s getting harder to get dividends from Russia’s Yamal project

CEO Patrick Pouyanne blamed EU sanctions for the company's difficulty in receiving payouts.

By Reuters - February 9, 2023
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A sign with the logo of French oil and gas company TotalEnergies is pictured at a petrol station in Bouguenais near Nantes, France, on November 14, 2022. (Stephane Mahe / Reuters File Photo)

PARIS — French oil major TotalEnergies received some dividends for its stake in Russia’s Yamal LNG project in 2022 but it is becoming more complex to receive such payouts because of Western sanctions against Russia, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on Wednesday.

Pouyanne said TotalEnergies was only booking cashflow from the Yamal venture in its accounts “when we see the dividends in our pockets.”

The company also gets more income out of its Yamal venture, in which it has a 20 percent stake, when LNG volumes received under TotalEnergies’ long-term contract are sold into Europe and Asia.

“This is not Russian money, this is a European contract” Pouyanne said.

Reporting by America Hernandez and Benjamin Mallet.