Paris does not want to purchase the American liquefied natural gas, citing the fact that it a high proportion of shale gas extraction which uses technology banned in France. It plays into the hands of other suppliers, primarily Russia. Some believe the actions of the French “green” extremism, according to another version, the environment is just an excuse, in fact, the American gas for the French is too expensive.
France is considering a ban on imports of us liquefied natural gas (LNG). On Tuesday Reuters reported, citing a statement by the French Minister of ecology, sustainable development and energy Segolene Royal.
According to her, such decision was accepted after was found that up to 40% of LNG from the total supply to French companies EDF and Engie represent shale gas. The fact that it is produced by the freking (hydraulic fracturing), and the application of this technology in France is prohibited, as it carries environmental risks. In particular, when using frekinga the ground injected chemicals that can threaten groundwater.
“I asked two companies, why don’t they have to be vigilant, and asked to find a legal basis for banning imports of shale gas”, — quotes Reuters the Royal.
Earlier it was reported that the company is Cheniere (the largest U.S. producer of shale gas) has signed contracts, according to which in the French port of Dunkirk, equipped with a terminal for regasification, should come not less than 50 LNG tankers. The first shipments were supposed to begin flowing this summer. According to French newspaper L’express, EDF signed an agreement on the annual supply of 770 thousand tons of LNG (about 1 billion cubic meters) for 20 years. It was also reported that the Engie has signed a five-year contract to supply 12 shipments of liquefied natural gas per year, but their volume was not disclosed.
The situation with the prohibition of LNG to the us looks rather strange: in the current ban on the use of technology frekinga the French don’t want to buy a ready-made product.
“This is a “green” extremism — says the head of East European Gas Analysis Michael Korchemkin. — If these “green,” learn about the use of hydraulic fracturing on Markov field “Gazprom” (where fracking really is applied), it will ban imports and Russian gas”.
According to Korchemkin, the main purpose of these statements is to raise populist noise in the press.”
The General Director of the national energy security Fund Konstantin Simonov indicates that in France there is no law prohibiting purchase products produced through hydraulic fracturing.
“I don’t think it’s such a gift from the French Russia (France is the fifth largest consumer of Russian gas in Europe, last year in this country was delivered 9.7 billion cubic meters. — “Газета.Ru” as the political situation is not in favor of the Russian Federation”, — said the head of the NESF.
According to Simonov, the attempt to abandon American LNG may be associated with its high cost — $6-6,5 per 1 million British thermal units, while the same Russian gas flowing through pipelines is significantly cheaper. This is mainly due to falling prices of long-term contracts of “Gazprom”, which are tied to oil quotations with a lag of six to nine months, as oil prices recently fell by more than seriously.
“And now France does not want to buy gas from America, but trying to “save face”, — says Simonov.
By the way, the same assumption has been expressed, when in January of this year it became known that liquefied gas from the United States refused Lithuania. The Lithuanian authorities explained this by the fact that the gas transportation system of the country was not adapted to American high-calorific gas, while the gas distribution network of Lithuania was designed under the less calorie pipeline Russian gas. Even then, however, market experts talked about the possibility of trying to stop us LNG because of its higher than the competition (and primarily Russia), prices.
