Report finds France’s energy import bill tripled in three years

According to data from French customs published last week, France's energy import bill significantly increased, rising from €58 billion to €148 billion between 2019 and 2022, attributed mainly to the surge in gas prices.

As reported by Euractiv, French customs authorities released a report on "France's energy vulnerability" in early October, coinciding with the publication of France's foreign trade results for 2022. The report emphasizes that rising energy costs have underscored the dependence and vulnerability of European economies on energy imports, particularly in the year 2022, marked by Russia's military aggression in Ukraine.

France relies entirely on energy imports for gas and is nearly entirely dReependent on coal and oil. This dependence is recognized as a vulnerability for the country. Despite a slight decrease in the quantity of energy measured in Terawatt-hours (TWh), the import bill has seen a substantial increase, growing from €58 billion in 2019 to €148 billion in 2022, marking a 2.5-fold rise.

Additionally, France's net energy bill has climbed from €44 billion in 2019 to €116 billion in 2022, according to figures published by the Energy Transition Ministry in September.

The customs report highlights an "unprecedented increase" in the value of gas supplies, which surged from €11 billion in 2019 to €52 billion in 2022. In net terms, France's gas bill increased from €8 billion to €46 billion during this period. The increase in gas prices and volumes stemmed from rising imports from countries other than Russia, whose gas had been plentiful and inexpensive before the conflict in Ukraine.

Furthermore, oil supplies also grew from €45 billion to €72 billion. This increase was accompanied by a decrease in import volumes, which the report attributes to the sharp rise in oil and coal prices.