The Russian President has approved a decree on the sale of a 10% stake in the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project held by France’s TotalEnergies to a company named Nordline, a recently established subsidiary of the Russian gas producer Novatek (Russian Government decree, 03/06/2026). The project, with a capacity of 19.8 Mt/year, was placed under US sanctions in 2023 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leading TotalEnergies to declare force majeure on LNG offtake contracts from the project.
If completed, the transaction would still leave TotalEnergies with indirect exposure to Arctic LNG 2 through its stake in the Russian energy company Novatek, the project’s main shareholder (60%). Other shareholders include China National Petroleum Corp (10%), China National Offshore Oil Corp (10%), and a consortium formed by Mitsui and the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (10%).
TotalEnergies continues to hold interests in other Russian assets, including 20% in the Yamal LNG export project, which is not directly sanctioned, as well as in Novatek itself. The company initially agreed to take its stake in Arctic LNG 2 in 2018.
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