Greenpeace accuses oil giant of hypocrisy due to its previously stated position on not producing oil in the Arctic
Total has purchased a shipment of Arctic oil from Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, in apparent contradiction to earlier statements made by the French company’s chief executive about the potential dangers of offshore oil exploration in the region.
A spokesperson for Total said: "Total has bought this cargo to feed its European refining and trading system. Crude oil is an open international market and for many years we [have bought] crude oil from Russia."