The gas is being used in many government buildings in the UK, provided by Totalenergies Gas & Power, a subsidiary of French energy giant Totalenergies.
No. 10 Downing Street, a large part of the Whitehall area - the administrative center of the UK government, is also receiving gas from this company under a multi-year contract worth billions of USD with a subsidiary of Totalenergies.
Notably, Totalenergies is also trading Russian gas. The French energy giant holds a 20% stake in Yamal LNG - a giant energy complex located in the northern Siberia of Russia, which has huge underground reserves of fossil fuels.
Yamal LNG is majority owned by Russia's private energy group Novatek. This is where gas is processed for transportation, by ships carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG), to some European Union countries that are still importing Russian LNG to maintain the operation of the economy.
The gas supplier from Yamal has been linked to long-term contracts signed before Russia launched the conflict in Ukraine in 2022, and the contracts cannot be unilaterally terminated, according to Totalenergies.
According to estimates from the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research (CREA) based in Helsinki, the EU's LNG imports from Russia are worth up to 8.5 billion USD in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, with TotalEnergies being one of the main parties participating in the imports. France, Spain and Belgium are the largest importers.
Meanwhile, the UK has completely banned direct imports of LNG from Russia. The gas is supplied under contracts of Totalenergies Gas & Power in the UK and is purchased domestically, so it is unlikely that any of it is likely to be Russian.
Totalenergies Gas & Power is one of the very few energy companies capable of providing large-scale gas to the public sector. Following the UK government's ban, the company also does not import Russian LNG directly into the UK.
Totalenergies affirmed its full compliance with EU energy laws and policies and sanctions against Russia. The company only imports Russian gas under existing contracts, not on spot markets, where short-term gas deals take place.
However, separating the UK government from its close relationship with Totalenergies may not be simple. The " 4th Power Supply" contract signed by the Government Procurement and Trading Agency (CCS) is valid until February 2027, and some "rectors" from the main contract, signed separately by each ministry and industry, will last longer. According to public documents, the contracts between the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Home Affairs are valid until 2030.
In addition to the CCS contract, a number of other UK public sector organizations also buy gas from Totalenergies Gas & Power through separate agreements.
