FRANCE AND UAE DISCUSS ALTERNATIVES TO RUSSIAN OIL: FRENCH FINANCE MINISTER

Sun 05 June 2022:

On Sunday, France’s finance minister said that his country is in negotiations with Gulf countries to find an alternative to Russian oil supply and lessen the country’s reliance on Moscow for energy.

“Discussions are already underway with the United Arab Emirates, we need to find an alternative to Russian oil,” Bruno Le Maire stated on Europe 1-Les Echos-CNews’ Grand Rendezvous broadcast on Sunday.

Le Maire emphasized the need to “accelerate investments in the energy transition” after the EU announced the sixth package of sanctions on June 3, barring the purchase, import, or transfer of crude oil and certain petroleum products from Russia into the EU.

He detailed that the government has planned legislation that will be submitted soon after the forthcoming legislative elections to “accelerate the deployment of renewable energies.”

He said France was looking for substitutes for the supply of gas and was engaged with the UAE.

Nearly 30% of crude and 15% of petroleum products purchased by the EU in 2021 were supplied by Moscow.

France floated the proposal of total energy independence at the EU level in order to stop importing oil and gas from Russia. While a complete ban on the import of Russian oil could take 6-8 months, the EU believes that stopping oil purchases could weaken Moscow’s purse strings to finance the war.

On the same TV channel on Sunday, European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton underlined that European countries must break their dependency on Russian gas and “regain our autonomy as quickly as possible” since (Russian President) Vladimir Putin “does not like the European project.”

“He (Putin) did everything to interfere in our democracies … and now he is using gas to precisely divide us,” he said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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