France should ban Russian LNG soon, Senate committee says

France should ban imports of Russian liquefied natural gas as soon as possible, according to advice from a Senate committee.

It’s a bold suggestion because France is Europe’s biggest importer of Russian LNG so far this year, followed by Spain and Belgium, according to ship-tracking data on Bloomberg. The amount of fuel that’s arrived in France from Moscow this year almost matches the total for all of 2023, after shipments from Qatar slumped, the data show.

“Our country must include Russian LNG in energy products under European sanctions and stop imports of Russian LNG as soon as possible,” according to the non-binding report from a committee led by members of the Green and Republican opposition parties.

So far, the European Union hasn’t banned imports of LNG from Russia, but there’s a push within the bloc to strengthen restrictions. There isn’t enough support from member states to start talks on full prohibitions, but it could be possible to stop using EU ports to re-export supplies to third countries.

Wednesday’s report also recommends that the French government seek a “golden” share in energy company TotalEnergies SE to gain veto rights against asset sales and large shareholder changes.

This comes after Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said the group may also list in New York to attract investors with a greater appetite for fossil fuels than European shareholders.

The government isn’t required to accept the committee’s recommendations, though they do help inform policy making.