Gazprom ends gas deliveries to French utility Engie | Abroad

Both parties reported earlier Tuesday that Engie was supplied with less gas than usual. Gazprom said it was due to a disagreement over contract terms.

Engie, in turn, stated that concerns about energy supplies are growing. The French utility said it had “secured the necessary volumes” to meet its customers’ obligations, but also to meet its own needs. In addition, the company says it has taken several measures to limit the direct financial and physical consequences of a gas supply interruption.

Gazprom’s move coincides with the shutdown of the Nord Stream pipeline for maintenance. Engie owns nine percent of that pipeline. Germany previously stated that Russia uses gas supplies as a weapon and France is now also of that opinion. “We must therefore prepare for the worst scenario,” French Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said on French radio. She argues that Gazprom does not comply with the contracts.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Gazprom has already reduced supplies to Engie to 1.5 terawatt hours per month. Engie’s annual deliveries in Europe exceed 400 terawatt hours.

France is less dependent on gas imports from Russia than many of its neighbors. Russian gas accounts for about 17 percent of gas consumption. Moreover, the storage facilities in the country are already about 90 percent full. Nevertheless, concerns remain about the supply from Russia. France has already warned companies that energy may be rationed next winter and called for savings.

Gazprom has been cutting off gas supplies for some time. Earlier, the Russian company decided that all payments had to be made in rubles and closed countries such as Poland and the Netherlands when they refused. Deliveries to Germany were reduced in several steps to about one fifth of the normal amount.