France has announced that it is investigating the involvement of the oil company TotalEnergies in the supply of jet fuel to the Russian military.
This was reported by Reuters with reference to the words of Minister of Transport Cleman Bon.
"This is an extremely serious topic, so it is necessary to conduct an investigation to understand whether there was a violation of sanctions," the minister noted, adding that he does not have enough information to draw conclusions.
The newspaper Le Monde reported on August 24 that TotalEnergies was involved in the supply of gas condensate for the production of jet fuel that could be used by Russian military aircraft in Ukraine through the French firmʼs share in a joint venture with Russiaʼs Novatek.
The publication specified that the fuel was produced from gas condensate supplied by "Terneftegaz", in which TotalEnergies owns 49%. They, unlike their major Western competitors, have kept their assets in Russia, although they have declared that they do not operate the infrastructure that goes to the needs of the Russian military. They also assure that they know nothing about the potential production of jet fuel by their business partners.