Europe / Caspian / CIS
Country profile: France
| Location: | Western Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain, southeast of the UK; bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Spain,0 |
| Climate: | generally cool winters and mild summers, but mild winters and hot summers along the Mediterranean; occasional strong, cold, dry, north-to-northwesterly wind known as mistral |
| Terrain: | mostly flat plains or gently rolling hills in north and west; remainder is mountainous, especially Pyrenees in south, Alps in east |
| Size: | 547030 sq. km total (Land area: 545630 sq. km Water area: 1400 sq.km) |
| Population: | 60,876,136 in metropolitan France (July 2008 est.) |
| Languages: | French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) |
| Government: | republic |
| Capital city: | Paris |
| Legal system: | civil law system with indigenous concepts; review of administrative but not legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Currency: | euro (EUR) |
| Licensing: |
Country profile
In 2004, France consumed 11.2 quadrillion Btu of total energy. Nuclear energy was the largest share, representing 39 percent, followed by oil (36 percent), natural gas (16 percent) and hydroelectricity (5 percent). France is the second-largest producer of nuclear power in the world, after the United States, however, nuclear energy is a much larger share of France’s total energy consumption than the United States (8 percent in 2004).
Energy production and consumption
| Oil | Gas | |
| Production: | 73,180 bbl/day (2005 est.) | 1 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Consumption: | 1 million bbl/day (2005 est.) | 47 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Exports: | 474,200 bbl/day (2005 est.) | 863 million cu m (2004 est.) |
| Imports: | 1 million bbl/day (2005 est.) | 47 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Reserves: | 158 million bbl (1 January 2006 est.) | 341 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
| Major fields: |
France - recent news
| 02 Sep 20 |
France: Boralex announces commissioning of Santerre Wind Farm in France Boralex has announced the commercial commissioning of the 15 MW Santerre Wind Farm, located in La Somme, France. Commissioning of this wind farm, on August 1st, brings Boralex’s capacity in France to 993MW and its total capacity worldwide to 2,055 MW. |
| 07 May 20 |
France: Time for champagne - France to become Europe’s fourth-largest offshore wind producer in 2030 According to France’s updated energy doctrine, 8.75 GW of capacity will be made available through tenders from 2020 to 2028. The plan aims to lift awarded capacity to 12.4 GW by 2028. |
| 20 Mar 20 |
France: Total expands in wind power in France with the acquisition of Global Wind Power France Total continues its growth in renewable energy in France with the acquisition of Global Wind Power France, a company with a 1000-megawatt (MW) portfolio of onshore wind projects, including 250 MW scheduled to come on stream by 2025. |
| 12 Mar 20 |
France: Total to build the largest battery-based energy storage project in France Total has launched a battery-based energy storage project in Mardyck, at the Flandres Center, in Dunkirk’s port district. With a storage capacity of 25 megawatt hours (MWh) and output of 25 MW of power, the new lithium-ion energy storage system will be the largest in France. It will be used to provide fast reserve services to support the stability of the French power grid. |
| 13 Feb 20 |
France: CGG wins multi-year Dedicated Center contract renewal for Total CGG has announced that its Geoscience division has been awarded a contract renewal by Total, for the continued operation of its Dedicated Processing Center in Pau, France. The new contract will run for five years starting in January 2020. |
France - more news
Other countries in this region
- Afghanistan,
- Albania,
- Armenia,
- Austria,
- Azerbaijan,
- Belarus,
- Belgium,
- Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- Bulgaria,
- Croatia,
- Cyprus,
- Czech Republic,
- Denmark,
- Estonia,
- Faroe Islands,
- Finland,
- Georgia,
- Germany,
- Greece,
- Greenland,
- Hungary,
- Iceland,
- Ireland,
- Italy,
- Kazakhstan,
- Kyrgyzstan,
- Latvia,
- Lithuania,
- Luxembourg,
- Malta,
- Moldova,
- Montenegro,
- Netherlands,
- Norway,
- Poland,
- Portugal,
- Romania,
- Russia,
- Serbia,
- Slovakia,
- Slovenia,
- Spain,
- Sweden,
- Switzerland,
- Tajikistan,
- Tatarstan,
- Turkey,
- Turkmenistan,
- Ukraine,
- United Kingdom,
- Uzbekistan
