Russian gas exit should be gradual – French minister
(Montel) Russian pipeline gas and LNG imports into Europe must be eased out slowly to avoid damaging the market, French economy minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday.
Reporting by: Elise Wu
“Our [dependence on Russian gas] has been greatly reduced since the Russian invasion but we want to do it gradually to avoid a too brutal impact on the market, especially for our European partners who are much more dependent on Russian gas than we are,” he told senators during an upper house hearing.
Gas supplied by Russia, including both pipeline gas and LNG, still made up 15% of the EU’s imports, he said, noting member states had set a target to completely eliminate the country’s fuel by 2027.
“We have maintained imports in order to avoid excessive pressure on the market, which could have a very powerful effect on prices,” he added.
Rising supplies
Russian pipeline gas and LNG supplies to Europe rose in March, with France the second largest importer after Belgium, according to data published by European gas TSO group Entsog on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, Belgian energy minister Tinne van der Straeten said the EU was too divided to ban Russian LNG imports using formal sanctions, which required unanimous approval from all 27 countries.
Yet, the EU’s sanctions on Russian coal and crude oil were still “efficient” despite countries such as India and China buying Russian oil at low prices, according to the French minister.
Sales to India and China were “allowing Russia to survive… but the reality is that these sanctions have an impact on Russia and on Russian power”, he added.
Sanctions
Meanwhile, “European sanctions were rigorously and scrupulously respected by all French companies… whether they were global players like TotalEnergies or smaller companies,” Le Maire told French senators, who questioned him on the French oil and gas major’s involvement in Russia.
TotalEnergies has a 19.4% stake in Russian natural gas company Novatek, although it no longer has representatives on the company’s board.
It also holds a 20% share in the 17.4m tonnes/year Yamal LNG facility in Russia and a 10% stake in the 19.8m tonnes/year Arctic LNG 2 project.
“Yamal LNG continues to produce LNG, a significant portion of which goes to Europe,” Nicolas Terraz, head of exploration and production at TotalEnergies, told senators last week, adding the company would continue to participate in the project for as long as sanctions allowed.
However, the company did not intend to purchase or to export volumes from the Arctic LNG 2 facility, he said. In February, TotalEnergies declared force majeure along with other investors due to US sanctions.