French gas transmission system operator GRTgaz announced on Friday that it has not been receiving Russian gas by pipeline since Wednesday, due to the "interruption of the physical flow between France and Germany," reports BFMTV.

France receives about 17 percent of its gas from Russia, which can come by pipeline or in liquid form on tankers. The vast majority of imported gas used to come by pipeline through this single point of connection with Germany. Flows have already dropped by 60 percent since the beginning of the year, and this import point is already operating at only 10 percent of its capacity in early 2022, GRTgaz reported. In the last two days, the supply has dropped to zero.

GRTgaz does not know the reason for this reduction, but it occurred at a time when Gazprom has significantly reduced gas supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the channel notes. However, France imports gas from other countries, including Spain, which recently increased its supplies. First of all, it has increased its purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which, according to GRTgaz, arrives by LNG tankers at terminals close to its technical maximum.

At the same time, the French gas operator assured that French reserves for the coming winter are at 56% of capacity, compared to the usual 50% at the same time.