The flow of Russian gas to France will be completely dried up on Thursday, after the announcement Tuesday evening by the Russian giant Gazprom of the total suspension on this date of its deliveries to the French group Engie.
“Gazprom Export has notified Engie of a complete suspension of gas deliveries from September 1, 2022 until full receipt of the financial sums due for the deliveries”, indicated the Russian group in a press release published Tuesday evening on its website. Telegram account.
Under a decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin, signed at the end of March, Gazprom specifies that “it is forbidden to deliver more natural gas to a foreign buyer if the buyer has not made payment in full within the period fixed in the contract.
However, Gazprom affirms that it had not received all of the sums due for deliveries in July at the end of the day on Tuesday.
Engie, contacted by AFP on Tuesday evening, declined to comment on Gazprom’s announcement.
“Other Sources of Supply”
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, wanting to “reassure Engie customers”, however said that the French group had “found other sources of supply”, without specifying which ones, on the TMC channel.
Deliveries of Russian gas to Engie had already fallen considerably since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, falling recently to just 1.5 TWh (terawatt-hour) per month, according to the company born from the merger of Gaz de France and Suez.
This figure is to be related to “total annual supplies in Europe greater than 400 TWh” for Engie, adds the main gas supplier in France, of which the French State holds nearly 24%.
At the end of July, Engie had assured that it had significantly reduced its “financial and physical exposure to Russian gas”, which already represented only around 4% of its supplies. “It’s completely within the margin of the flexibility of our portfolios, so we’re not at all worried,” said its managing director Catherine MacGregor at the time.
The group recalled that measures had already been put in place to be able to supply its customers even in the event of an interruption in Gazprom flows.
Last Thursday, France’s gas reserves exceeded the 90% filling threshold for the winter (91.47% Tuesday morning), according to the European Aggregated Gas Storage Inventory (AGSI) platform, and France is in good on its way to meeting its target of 100% by November.
“At the level of gas arrivals, we are still seeing today injections which continue to be completely in line with our forecasts and will allow us to be able to arrive at the start of winter with a filling rate which will be optimal for the whole of French territory, ”assured AFP Pierre Chambon, general manager of Storengy France, a subsidiary of Engie specializing in storage, on Tuesday.
Not necessarily enough for winter
French government spokesman Olivier Véran confirmed that the target would be achieved “by the end of the summer”, but warned that this did not mean that France would have “enough gas to pass winter if the Russians cut it down and if we consumed a lot of it”.
A defense council devoted to the country’s gas and electricity supply will take place on Friday under the aegis of President Emmanuel Macron.
“Between ‘gas pipeline maintenance’ and ‘disagreements over the contract’, a winter with zero Russian gas is the main scenario for Europe”, estimates Simone Tagliapietra, researcher at the Brussels Bruegel Institute.
Since Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow after the launch of its offensive against Ukraine, Russia has several times reduced its gas deliveries to Europe, which is heavily dependent on it. Russia accounted until last year for some 40% of the European Union’s gas imports.
Gas prices have exploded on the Old Continent, brushing historic records in recent weeks (€345 per MWh in session) due to expected Russian supply suspensions between August 31 and September 2 via Nord Stream 1, due to maintenance of the gas pipeline, according to an announcement from Gazprom. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it fluctuated around €80 per MWh.