EU currently has no alternative to Russian gas: Pouyanne

 The EU currently has no alternative to Russian gas supply, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on March 30, defending the French major's decision to keep its long-term contracts for Russian LNG.

"TotalEnergies will continue to ensure the supply of LNG from Russia to Europe because we are bound by long-term contracts," the company's head said in a social media post. "As of today, the EU has no alternative but to maintain its supply of Russian gas. Given the logistical constraints of the European gas system, there simply exist no alternatives."

He warned that cutting off Russian supply would "seriously disrupt Europe's economic activity by winter 2023."

TotalEnergies has faced criticism for maintaining its position in Russia in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine while its competitors BP, ExxonMobil and Shell have all announced they will withdraw from the country. The major owns a minority  share in the country's top LNG exporter Novatek, and has direct interests in the Russian firm's Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG-2 export projects. 

"We can't just say 'let's pull out of Russia' before having found an alternative which guarantees a secure energy supply at an acceptable cost for our customers, while respecting our contractual and sustainable development commitments," Pouyanne continued. "We can't make hasty decisions without identifying their consequences. In the current context, that means working with European governments to provide them with the energy they need."

The company head has noted before that finding a non-Russian buyer for its interests in the country would not be possible at this stage, and so the move would simply "enrich" Russia.