PARIS — France’s government is unveiling a law to ban all production and exploration of oil and natural gas by 2040 on the country’s mainland and overseas territories. The move is largely symbolic, however, as France’s oil and gas production represents just 1 per cent of national consumption — the rest is imported. France currently has 63 oil and gas drilling on its territory. The bill elaborated by Environment minister Nicolas Hulot also includes a definitive ban on all shale gas exploration and extraction. Hulot has already announced in July that France will stop producing power from coal — now 5 per cent of the total — by 2022.

Source: National Post September 06, 2017 06:56 UTC