Russian gas continues to flow into Europe through its main gateway, France. Despite declining gas consumption in France, liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia still accounts for a significant proportion of total imports.
In 2024, up to 34% of LNG imports into French ports will be from Russia, raising many questions about the country's real dependence on Russian energy.
According to Le Monde, with five LNG receiving stations, France plays a key role in importing liquefied petroleum gas to Europe. In 2024, about a third of the LNG entering France will come from Russia, according to Kpler's estimate released on February 18. Meanwhile, the US (38%) and Algeria (17%) are the two remaining main suppliers.
However, it is impossible to determine exactly how much Russian gas is actually consumed in France, as a large part of the gas imports continue to be transited to other European countries.
According to data from French gas network operator NaTran in 2024, 123 TWh of gas was transported to neighboring countries such as Belgium.
Despite significant LNG imports, total French gas consumption continues to decline, down to 361 TWh in 2024, 20 TWh lower than in 2023 and down to 113 TWh compared to 2021.
The main reason is that nuclear and hydropower output are recovering, causing the demand for gas for electricity production to decrease sharply (only 16 TWh in 2024, down 56% compared to the previous year).
The trend of gas consumption by households, small businesses and the service sector is also decreasing. Meanwhile, due to reduced energy prices, major industries such as chemicals, food, and smelting have shown signs of a slight increase in gas consumption demand.
Since May 2022, the European Union (EU) has set a goal of completely ending dependence on Russian gas by 2027.
In fact, Russian gas supply to the EU has fallen significantly as Moscow cuts supplies via pipelines, reducing its share of imports from Russia from more than 40% in 2021 to below 20% in 2024.
France no longer receives Russian gas via pipelines, but still imports Russian LNG via seaports. This is controversial as some companies, typically Totalenergies, continue to implement long-term contracts with Russia without being able to suspend them due to no sanctions from the EU.
Although the EU has imposed a ban on imports of coal and oil from Russia, LNG control measures are still limited. The ban, effective from March 2024, only targets Russian LNG "transfer" activities at European ports, meaning stopping shipments to continue transporting to areas outside the EU.
According to Aymeric Kouam from consulting firm Strategic Perspectives, the dependence of Europe and France on LNG makes them vulnerable to fluctuations in the international energy market, posing a risk to "supply security". He emphasized that to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, the EU needs to accelerate the development of renewable energy such as solar power and wind power.
Despite commitments to reduce dependence on Russia, the reality shows that Russian gas still flows into Europe, causing the process of "recting to" Russian energy to take place more slowly than expected.
