Most likely scenario of gas cut in Russia – French finance minister

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AIX-EN-PROVENCE — The French government is preparing for a total cut in Russian gas supply, which it considers the most likely scenario in its forward planning, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday. .

With around 17% of its supply coming from Russia, France is less dependent on Russian gas than some of its neighbors, but the government is preparing contingency plans.

A blackout is particularly problematic now because French nuclear power generation would struggle to pick up the slack, as many reactors are currently shut down for maintenance.

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« I think a total cut off of Russian gas supply is a real possibility…and we have to prepare for that scenario, » he said on the sidelines of an economic and trade conference in southern China. France.

“It would be totally irresponsible to ignore this scenario,” he said. Earlier in the lecture, he described such a Russian gas cut as the « most likely scenario ».

The Mayor said the first line of defense is for households and businesses to reduce their energy consumption, then building new infrastructure like a floating plant that can regasify liquid natural gas shipments from overseas.

More drastically, the government is also looking on a company-by-company basis to see which may be forced to cut production to save energy if needed, Le Maire said. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Alison Williams, William Maclean)