The gas group Engie (ex-GDF Suez) has not “industrial activity in Russia and does not develop investment projects in this territory”, he recalls. But the French company is nonetheless very exposed to this country, and therefore to any international measure that could affect the energy sector after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army on February 24.
France imports almost all the gas it needs, with Russia being its second largest supplier behind Norway. For the 2021 financial year, 20% of Engie’s gas sales and consumption came from Gazprom, under long-term contracts. “In 2006, the gas supply contracts concluded with Gazprom were renewed until 2030”, specifies an old “reference document” from Engie.
For the 2021 financial year, 20% of Engie’s gas sales and consumption came from Gazprom
Ursula von der Leyen nevertheless intends to set the horizon at 2027, to put an end to Russian deliveries of gas, oil and coal. The President of the European Commission announced it on Friday March 11, in Versailles, to the leaders of the twenty-seven Member States of the European Union (EU).
In the name of confidentiality, Engie refuses to provide details and the number of its current contracts. Neither their revision clauses nor the national legislation on which the texts depend – this legislation is in any case that of an EU country, according to our information. A 2007 Senate report estimated the cost of this supply for the group at 45 billion euros over the entire duration of the contract (twenty-four years), for approximately 14.5 billion cubic meters (m3) per year.
“Interdependence”
The first of these Franco-Russian supply contracts dates from 1975, during the time of the USSR. “These long-term contracts are almost made to last a lifetime”, says Jean-François Cirelli. The former number two of Engie, now president of the French subsidiary of the asset manager BlackRock, talks about “an interdependence”. “Stopping them for political reasons seems complicated, especially since the Russians have been respecting the contracts so far. Engie undertakes to buy gas and Gazprom undertakes to deliver it. »
Unlike the United States, which does not depend on Russian gas, the EU has so far taken care to avoid an embargo against hydrocarbons. “If the supply of gas by the Russians to Europe becomes subject to economic sanctions, Engie should be able to consider exiting its contracts without penalty, under European regulations”believes lawyer Olivier Dorgans, specialist in economic sanctions.
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