Downing Street supplied with gas by firm linked to Russian fossil fuels

LONDON — One of Keir Starmer’s favorite meals is tandoori salmon curry, a dish the U.K. prime minister loves so much he once prepared it in front of the TV cameras.

But if he ever finds time to whip it up in the kitchen of his Downing Street flat, he may want to pause over who is supplying the fuel to heat his gas hob. 

The gas coming through the pipes is provided by TotalEnergies Gas & Power, a subsidiary of the French fossil fuel giant, TotalEnergies.

And it isn’t just Downing Street it’s fueling. Much of Whitehall — the administrative center of the British state — is supplied with gas for heating, kitchens and hot water via a multi-year, multi-billion pound contract with the firm, known as ‘Supply of Energy 2,’ which could see up to £8 billion in British taxpayers’ money flowing to the energy multinational.

According to data obtained through Freedom of Information requests, No. 10, the Foreign Office on King Charles Street, the Treasury’s headquarters and Ed Miliband’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero are all getting their gas from TotalEnergies’ subsidiary.

So too, contract records show, are the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The Bank of England and — beyond the capital — local council offices, NHS hospitals and schools likewise buy gas from the firm via ‘Supply of Energy 2’ and other lucrative public sector procurement deals.

Asked whether it could rule out that the prime minister’s flat above No. 11 Downing Street also receives gas from the contract, the government declined to comment.

TotalEnergies fuels the British state.

But there’s a problem. Because TotalEnergies also trades in Russian gas.

The Siberia connection

The energy giant holds a 20 percent stake in Yamal LNG — a sprawling energy complex in the wilderness of Russia’s northern Siberia region, where huge fossil fuel reserves lie beneath the earth. 

Majority-owned by Russian private energy firm Novatek, this is where gas is processed for shipment — in liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers — to several European Union countries that are still, more than three years after Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, importing Russian LNG to fuel their economies.

According to TotalEnergies, it supplies gas from Yamal under long-term contractual arrangements — pre-dating Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 — that it it cannot break.

But it’s a trade flow that remains deeply controversial.

EU imports of Russian LNG — in which TotalEnergies is one of the major players — were worth up to $8.5 billion (£6.3 billion) in 2024/25 according to an estimate from the Helsinki-based think tank the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. France, Spain and Belgium are the biggest importers.

The LNG trade provides revenue for Russian fossil fuel companies that in turn generates tax income for the Kremlin — and helps fuel Putin’s war machine in Ukraine. Last week, the European Commission in Brussels embarked on a new push to crack down on Russian gas imports, including a ban on imports under long-term contracts — but not until January 2028.

The U.K., by contrast, has already banned direct imports of Russian LNG. Its political leaders like to talk up their hardline stance on Putin’s fossil fuels.

“Every family and business across the U.K. has paid the price for Russia weaponizing energy,” Prime Minister Starmer said at an energy security conference in London in April, positioning the U.K. as the chief adversary of Putin and his grip on energy markets. “We must continue to crack down on their energy revenues which are still fuelling Putin’s war chest.”

Last week, Starmer said he wanted allies at the G7 summit in Canada to “squeeze Russia’s energy revenues and reduce the funds they are able to pour into their illegal war.” 

But, critics say, a gas supply contract with a firm that still supplies Russian gas to the continent fatally undermines the U.K.’s claim to moral leadership on the issue.

“It is outrageous that British government buildings are being heated with gas from a company still tied to Russian LNG,” said Svitlana Romanko, executive director of Razom We Stand, a Ukrainian NGO which campaigns against Russia’s fossil fuel trade. “Every contract with TotalEnergies sends a message that the U.K. is willing to look the other way as Ukrainians suffer.”

‘Hypocritical’

Gas supplied under TotalEnergies Gas & Power’s U.K. contracts is procured on the domestic market, so it is highly unlikely any of it actually originated in Russia. In line with the U.K.’s ban, the company does not import Russian LNG directly to the U.K.

The gas coming through the pipes is provided by TotalEnergies Gas & Power, a subsidiary of the French fossil fuel giant, TotalEnergies. | Teresa Suarez/EPA

Nonetheless, says Phuc-Vinh Nguyen, head of energy at the Jacques Delors Institute, a Paris-based think tank, it was “hypocritical” of the U.K. to have sealed such a lucrative contract with a firm that still imports Russian gas to European neighbors.

The stance allows Britain to say in public “we are officially and actively banning Russian energy,” said Nguyen. “But by the back door [they] are dealing with a company that is actively working with the Russian regime.”

TotalEnergies Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanné has said that “as long as the European authorities do not impose sanctions, and ask us to continue supplying the region with Russian LNG, we will do so.”

Asked earlier this year about the potential for new investments in Russia in the event of a peace deal in Ukraine, Pouyanné did not rule it out. “We’ll have to take time before [re-engaging] … but at the same time, we’ll see what will happen,” he told CNBC, while branding it a “theoretical question.” He called the war “terrible” and “traumatic.”

TotalEnergies said it condemned Russia’s invasion and that it operates legally in line with the energy and sanctions policies of the EU. The company only imports Russian gas to Europe under its existing contract and does not buy it on the so-called spot market for short-notice gas trades.

Mai Rosner, senior fossil fuel campaigner at the Global Witness NGO, said TotalEnergies was nonetheless “one of the largest buyers of Russian gas, and a key player in bringing Putin’s fossil fuels to market.”

“The U.K. government says it stands with Ukraine, is committed to energy security, and wants to lead on clean energy. So it’s deeply concerning that its highest offices are still powered by gas from TotalEnergies,” she said.

Pressure from Labour MPs

Whitehall’s contract with TotalEnergies’ U.K. subsidiary — first reported by POLITICO — was secured by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), the government’s procurement body, under the previous Conservative administration. The contract started on Feb. 27, 2023 and was made public in March 2023. On taking office, Starmer’s government rejected calls from campaigners to scrap it.

Now, for the first time, MPs in Starmer’s Labour party are raising concerns.

Tan Dhesi, the Labour chair of the House of Commons Defence Committee, told POLITICO the government should “assess this particular contract to ensure we’re not undermining our steadfast support for Ukraine.”

One of Keir Starmer’s favorite meals is tandoori salmon curry, a dish the U.K. prime minister loves so much he once prepared it in front of the TV cameras. | Pool Photo by Jason Alden via EPA

“We must ensure any inadvertent support for the Russian war effort is eliminated and therefore target dealings with companies supporting the Russian economy,” he added. “Ensuring peace in Europe and the defense of Ukrainian sovereignty must be reflected across government policy, including in procurement.”

Phil Brickell, a Labour member of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said: “Handing taxpayer money to a company which continues to have ties with Russia, while our Ukrainian allies are indiscriminately being bombed during Putin’s relentless war of aggression, is not appropriate.”

“The government should review the suitability of this supplier and exit the contract at the earliest opportunity,” Brickell added.

Gas ties run deep

But any attempt to untangle the U.K. state’s deep ties with TotalEnergies might not be so easy.

The CCS’s over-arching ‘Supply of Energy 2’ contract does not expire until February 2027 and some of the so-called “call-offs” from the contract secured by individual government departments run for longer still. The MoD and Home Office contracts both have end dates in 2030, according to public documents.

Beyond the CCS contract, other public sector organizations are supplied by TotalEnergies Gas & Power via separate deals. 

According to publicly-available records, the Bank of England and several local councils — including Lancashire, Hampshire, Bristol, and Southampton — have multi-year contracts via so-called “frameworks” arranged by the Kent County Council-owned public procurement firm, LASER. Each deal is potentially worth millions of pounds to the French fossil fuel giant.

Councils in Shropshire, Herefordshire, Telford & Wrekin and Worcestershire, meanwhile, have a separate, combined contract worth up to £100 million, commencing in April next year and not expiring until 2030.

TotalEnergies Gas & Power is one of only a handful of energy firms able to offer such large-scale public sector gas deals. But energy industry experts said U.K. officials would have alternative options.

Monitoring developments

A government spokesperson said:“We are making the U.K. a clean energy superpower to get off the roller coaster of fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators like Putin, replacing that with clean homegrown power we control — and have ended all imports of Russian fossil fuels in response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.”

The U.K., by contrast, has already banned direct imports of Russian LNG. Its political leaders like to talk up their hardline stance on Vladimir Putin’s fossil fuels. | Pool Photo by Alexander Kazakov via EPA

A spokesperson for LASER, the procurement firm, said the company “fully recognizes the importance of ethical procurement and the concerns raised around energy supply chains.” All of its contracts “comply with the U.K. government’s sanctions regime and guidance on public procurement,” they added. “We will continue to monitor developments and act accordingly in line with government policy and sector best practice.”

A Bank of England spokesperson said the Bank’s “procurement processes abide by all relevant [government] financial sanctions legislation.”

A Southampton City Council spokesperson said it had been advised by LASER “that all of our energy contracts, including gas, comply with the U.K. government’s sanctions regime and guidance on public procurement.” They added: “We will continue to monitor developments with our procurement partner, Laser Energy, and act accordingly in line with government policy and sector best practice.”

Other councils either declined or did not respond to a request for comment.