France’s Finance Minister Roland Lescure said Wednesday that 30% to 40% of refining capacity in the Gulf has been damaged or destroyed, leading to an oil crisis especially in some Asian countries.
“As a result, we are now facing an oil market where 11 million barrels per day are missing,” he said.
Lescure said he had talks with his counterpart in Qatar, where 17% of gas production capacity has now been destroyed as a result of the attacks carried out on the facilities. “It will take year — around three years — to restore them,” Lescure said. In addition, it will take months to relaunch some gas facilities that have been shut down in emergency by Qatar, he said.
France is relatively preserved regarding a shortage of gas supplies, Lescure noted, because the country relies on gas for less than 5% of its electricity, which is mostly produced by nuclear plants.
