French energy group Engie said Tuesday it had abandoned its plan to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, a proposal which had met resistance from environmental activists and the French state.

"Engie has decided not to continue business talks with NextDecade on the project to supply gas," an Engie spokeswoman said.

The company had been in talks on a nearly $7 billion contract to supply LNG from a liquefaction facility that NextDecade plans to build in Texas to use the ample supplies of natural gas from fracking in the region.

While the imports would have reduced France's dependence upon Russian gas, French environmentalists are strongly opposed to fracking and the process, which involves using explosives to create cracks in rock formations to release oil and gas deposits, is banned in the country.

The French state, which holds a 24 percent stake in Engie, had also opposed the project.

"It doesn't correspond to our climate transition policy," said a government source on Tuesday.

US lawmakers had written to President Emmanuel Macron to get the French government to drop its opposition to the project, noting that the US LNG would have fewer emissions than gas imported from Russia or Algeria.

"The rejection of the contract by the government and Engie is new explicit recognition of the climatic, environmental and social havoc caused by gas from fracking," said Lorette Philippot, a spokeswoman for the French branch of the Friends of the Earth environmental group.

jmi/rl/mbx

Engie

SOCIETE GENERALE

Related Links
All About Oil and Gas News at OilGasDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Norway oil giant Equinor aims for carbon neutral by 2050
Oslo (AFP) Nov 2, 2020
Norwegian oil giant Equinor said Monday it aimed to reach "net-zero" carbon emissions by 2050 but it still plans to increase its oil and gas production in the short term. The company, 67-percent-owned by the Norwegian state, said the target "includes emissions from production and final consumption of energy," such as in cars and aircraft. "Equinor is committed to being a leader in the energy transition," Anders Opedal, who took over the CEO chair on Monday, said in a statement. "It is a sou ... read more