France is (almost) ready for winter!
The country had filled, Thursday morning, 90% of its gas stocks for the winter, according to the European platform Aggregated Gas Storage Inventory (AGSI).
On the right track, therefore, to meet its objectives in order to face this winter potential energy shortages linked to the war in Ukraine.
The government's objective is to fill the country's natural gas storage capacity to 100% by November, as the tap of Russian exports to Western countries that support Ukraine gradually dries up, and the gas prices in Europe are breaking records.
The price was moving at more than 300 euros per megawatt hour on Wednesday morning, at levels not seen since the start of the Russian invasion.
As a reminder, the Russian giant Gazprom has since the start of the war in Ukraine stopped gas deliveries to several European countries and drastically reduced its deliveries to Europe in June via the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
France better prepared than its neighbors
In France, in detail, the stocks of Teréga, one of the two managers of the gas transmission network in the country, were at 91.21% of their capacity, when those of Storengy, a subsidiary of Engie were at 89. .67%, according to the AGSI website.
Germany's strategic storage facilities are 81.07% full according to the AGSI website.
Besides France, only four European countries out of 27 are at more than 90%: Portugal (100%), Poland (99.56%), Sweden (90.8%) and Denmark (93.76%) .
All countries filled their tanks more than 50%, the worst off being Latvia (55%) and Bulgaria (59%).
France, which claims to be in a more "favourable" situation than its neighbours, is counting on gas stocks filled to the maximum and on a new LNG terminal from next year to receive imports of liquefied gas from countries other than France. Russia.
The Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, had indicated during the summer that the government's objective was to fill stocks to 100% "before November 1", whereas operators are usually required to fulfill these reserves to 85% by that date.
Even if the gas reserves are 100% full, it will also be necessary to reduce its consumption in order to be able to survive the winter, both of gas and of electricity.
The ban on the open doors of heated or air-conditioned stores, and that of illuminated advertisements at night (with the exception of stations and airports) is expected before “the end of summer”, according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
A bill to develop renewable energies is also in preparation.
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