Energy giant Gazprom, which is majority owned by the Russian state, has announced a profit from its North Sea business for 2022, almost two years after the war in Ukraine began.
Gazprom International UK scored a €45 million gross profit over the year to December 2022, accounts released this week revealed, with this having increased by 9%.
This was driven by the company’s Sillimanite field, which spans British and Dutch waters in the North Sea.
Calls have come for the UK government to clamp down on the Russian company on the back of the results, with some Gazprom International UK executives subject to sanctions, but the company itself not being targeted.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey dubbed the news “totally unacceptable”, given concern the profits could be used to fund fighting in Ukraine, after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
“It's absurd to allow the subsidiary of a Russian state enterprise, which has its own militia fighting in Ukraine, to enrich Putin's regime from the North Sea,” campaign group Global Witness added.
Some €29 million was paid in tax to the UK and the Netherlands collectively by Gazprom International UK over the year, the accounts said.
None of the company’s revenues was generated in the UK, meanwhile.
"Putin and his supporters must - and will - pay the price for their illegal invasion of Ukraine," a government spokesperson commented on the news.
“We will continue to ratchet up economic pressure and come down hard on all emerging forms of circumvention until Ukraine prevails and peace is secured.”