TotalEnergies launches defamation action against French presidential candidate
Green Party MEP had accused the firm of complicity in war crimes due to its stance on Russia’s invasion
French major TotalEnergies will bring “without delay” a defamation suit against French MEP and Green Party presidential candidate Yannick Jadot, the firm’s head of global media relations said on LinkedIn on Wednesday. The firm has finally responded to weeks of criticism for its reluctance to follow the lead of peers such as BP, ExxonMobil, Shell and Norway’s Equinor in promising to exit Russian investments. And clearly it is in combative mood. “Words have meaning and what Yannick Jadot says is unacceptable,” Paul Naveau wrote on the social networking platform. “To be ‘complicit in war crimes’ is to provide direct assistance to a state or criminal organisation that has committed the crimes. T
Also in this section
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat
3 March 2026
The killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in US–Israeli strikes marks the most serious escalation in the region in decades and a bigger potential threat to the oil market than the start of the Russia-Ukraine crisis
2 March 2026
A potential blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following the escalating US-Iran conflict risks disrupting Qatari LNG exports that underpin global gas markets, exposing Asia and other markets to sharp price spikes, cargo shortages and renewed reliance on dirtier fuels






