Ukraine LIVE: Furious Putin fires 6 of his generals for tactical failure – invasion stalls

French oil and gas company TotalEnergies said today that it has sold it’s stake in a Russian company reportedly producing jet fuel.

The news comes following an article in the French newspaper Le Monde yesterday which claimed the energy giant owned a significant stake in the Russian company.

It said: “French oil and gas giant and its local partner Novatek manage a gas field whose product, once transformed into kerosene, is used to fuel Russian fighter planes engaged in the war in Ukraine. Terneftegaz, the company that runs the field, is 49% owned by TotalEnergies and 51% by Novatek.”

In response to the report that although the company does produce jet fuel at its plant in western Siberia, that fuel is not certified to be sold inside Russia.

TotalEnergies said: “The entirety of stable condensate produced at the Purovsky Plant from the feedstock coming from NOVATEK’s subsidiaries and affiliates, including Terneftegas, 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, and it does not even have the certification to be sold inside the country.”

TotalEnergies was adamant the product was not going to the Russian war effort.

On Friday Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the company to “pull out of Russia”.

Earlier this year, the company said that it would stop buying Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022, however it would continue to buy natural gas due to “Europe’s gas logistics capacities”.