Paris is readying for a total halt of gas deliveries from Russia
French authorities are preparing for a complete suspension of gas supplies from Russia, according to the country’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who sees such a full shutdown as the “most likely scenario.”
“I think that a total cutoff of Russian gas supplies is a real possibility … and we need to prepare for this scenario,” Le Maire said, speaking on the sidelines of a conference in southern France, as cited by Reuters.
“It would be totally irresponsible to ignore this scenario,” he said. “We’re pretty much already there.”
According to the minister, the first line of defense is for households and businesses to reduce energy consumption, then the construction of new infrastructure like a floating plant that will be able to re-gasify shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from overseas.
Paris is also looking company-by-company to see which could be forced to scale back production capacities to save energy if necessary, Le Maire said.