PARIS (REUTERS) - An investigation is needed into whether French oil major TotalEnergies may have supplied jet fuel to the Russian army, a French minister said Thursday (Aug 25).

"This is an extremely serious subject, so there needs to be an investigation into whether, voluntarily or involuntarily, there has been no bypass of either the sanctions or the energy that a company, French or other, has produced," French Transport Minister Clement Beaune said on France 2 television.

On Wednesday (Aug 24), Le Monde newspaper reported that TotalEnergies was involved in supplying gas condensate to make jet fuel that may have been used by Russia's military in Ukraine, via the French firm's stake in a venture with Russia's Novatek.

TotalEnergies, which unlike major Western rivals has held on to its assets in Russia despite criticism, said it did not operate infrastructure that would have supplied the Russian military and had no knowledge about any potential jet fuel production by its business partners.