France will seek gas prices close to the cost of its production

PARIS, Sep 26 – PRIME. France is working with the European Commission and a number of third countries to set the price of gas close to the cost of its production, the republic’s Minister of Energy Transformation, Agnès Pannier-Runachet, said on Monday.

“We are working with the European Commission and a number of third countries, looking for funds to achieve a gas price that would be close to the real cost of its production. Now this price is “torn off” from the cost of gas production from our main suppliers,” — Pannier-Ryunashe said at a government briefing after a meeting of the French Council of Ministers.

Western countries continue to discuss various measures to limit Russia’s income from oil and gas exports. So far, this has not been done either by imposing an embargo on oil, including by the entire European Union on maritime transportation, or by voluntary refusals of foreign companies. The redirection of exports, alternative supply schemes and the “sanctions premium” in world oil prices allow Russia to secure budget revenues even with sales at a discount.

Against this background, the finance ministers of the G7 countries (Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, the USA, France and Japan) on September 2 confirmed their intention to introduce price restrictions on Russian oil as part of the expansion of sanctions. It is planned that the price limit will be introduced on December 5 for oil and on February 5, 2023 for oil products. Russian representatives warned in response that the countries that would apply the limits would be left without Russian oil exports.