France has started supplying natural gas to Germany for the first time, French gas grid operator GRTgaz said, as Berlin seeks to diversify its energy supply after Russian gas supplies were cut off, AP reported.

GRTgaz said in a statement that the pipeline connecting the two countries in the French border village of Obergailbach began delivering an initial daily capacity of 31 gigawatt hours.

That number is expected to eventually increase to 100 gigawatt hours per day, less than 2 percent of Germany's total gas consumption, according to the French Energy Transition Ministry.

Klaus Müller, head of Germany's grid regulator, thanked GRTGaz in French in a tweet, adding that "the supply of French gas via the Saarland helps secure Germany's supply."

Although Germany's gas storage facilities are currently nearly 95 percent full, officials say citizens will have to conserve gas this winter.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced last month that France and Germany had agreed to an energy solidarity agreement. France will help Germany with gas supplies, and Germany will produce more electricity to supply France during peak consumption periods.