The French government is preparing for a total cut in Russian gas supplies, the scenario considered the most likely in its current projections, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday.
With around 17% of its supplies coming from Russia, France is less dependent on Russian gas than many of its neighbours, but the government has nevertheless drawn up contingency plans to deal with a drying up of deliveries in the wake of the crisis caused by the invasion of Ukraine.
A total cut of Russian gas is particularly problematic at the moment because the French nuclear fleet would struggle to take over, many reactors being shut down for maintenance operations. “I think that the total disruption of the gas supply from Russia is a real possibility (…) and we must be prepared for this option”said Bruno Le Maire on the sidelines of a conference at the 22nd Economic Meetings of Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône).
“I think it would be completely irresponsible to rule that option out.“Earlier in Aix, he qualified a total cut of the Russian gas supply as “the most likely option”. Bruno Le Maire underlined that the first line of defense consisted in reducing the energy consumption of households and businesses. “The best way is sobriety, the best way to prepare for these cuts is to be very attentive to our energy consumption. That goes for administrations, that goes for businesses, that goes for the details”he said.
Next comes the construction of new infrastructure, such as the floating LNG terminal project to regasify the liquefied natural gas imported from abroad.
More drastically, the government is also looking, company by company, to determine which might be forced to reduce their production to save energy, added Bruno Le Maire.
