(EnergyAsia, April 28 2014, Monday) — Greenpeace has identified French major Total as the buyer of the first cargo of oil produced from Russia’s offshore Prirazlomnoye field.

In making the claim, Greenpeace accused Total of hypocrisy, citing a previous pledge by the company’s CEO to avoid Arctic oil drilling due to the consequences of a major spill.

Russian enegry giant Gazprom produced the 70,000 tonnes of heavy crude oil from the Prirazlomnaya platform in the Pechora Sea earlier this month.

The cargo was shipped out in a blaze of publicity hailed by Russian President Vladimir Putin over a live telecast interview with Gazprom’s CEO Alexey Miller.

In September 2012 Total’s CEO, Christophe de Margerie, told the Financial Times the risk of an oil spill in the Arctic had led him to rule out drilling in the fragile region.

“Oil on Greenland would be a disaster. A leak would do too much damage to the image of the company,” he told the newspaper.

Commenting on Total’s pruchse, Greenpeace International oil campaigner Ben Ayliffe said:

“Total’s decision to buy this oil smacks of real hypocrisy. Its CEO has already pledged not to drill in the icy waters of the far north, and yet he is apparently happy to buy the stuff if Gazprom takes on the risk Mr. De Margerie cannot have his cake and eat it.

“As this tanker nears Europe the controversy surrounding it increases by the day. Buying the first shipment of offshore Arctic oil increases our dependence on Russian energy firms and only serves to strengthen President Putin’s hand in the geopolitical game he’s playing.”

Russian security officials arrested 28 Greenpeace and two freelance journalists last September for storming the Prirazlomnaya platform. They were charged, found guilty of hooliganism and released after a two-month jail sentence.

Last week, a senior Total executive predicted Russia would be his company’s largest source of crude oi by 2020, with production to double to 400,000 b/d of oil equivalent (boed) from 207,000 boed today.

Amid growing tensions between the West and Moscow over Crimea, Michael Borrell, who oversees Total’s upstream activities in Europe and Central Asia, said his company remains committed to its investments in Russia.