Will France have enough gas this year? Difficult to say, according to Thierry oublie, the general manager of GRTGaz, eco guest of franceinfo on Tuesday May 24, 2022. However, the transport operator is preparing to reduce the supply of certain industrial customers, “if ever there is no more Russian gas“.
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“If there is a period of intense cold during the winter”he explains, GRTGaz will react: “The effort would focus on large industrial consumers to whom we would give the order to reduce their consumption (…) Precise lists are being drawn up by the public authorities“. The manager clarifies that “private consumers and sensitive consumers such as hospitals would not be affected“.
In the meantime, according to him, “the challenge of summer is to fill the storage correctly“: “Today, we are at 47% fill level. We have made good progress (…) I call on suppliers to continue at this sustained pace“, while the 27 have committed to an 80% rate, at least, by November.
To compensate for Russian gas, GRTGaz is also betting on importing liquefied natural gas, using LNG terminals. The group is also working on a floating LNG terminal project in Le Havre, which could come into service in the course of 2023: “This terminal will have the capacity to accommodate the equivalent of half of French consumption of Russian gas“.
But part of the liquefied natural gas comes from the United States, and shale gas, which is harmful to the climate. Is it time to import polluting gas? “The French must not be cold this winter, the industry must not be disrupted“, replies Thierry Found. “But this solution is temporary“, he continues, betting on “the greening of gas“: “We believe that by 2030, all of the Russian gas imported into France could be replaced by locally produced biomethane.“.