Distrigaz Sud to become power supplier

Company officials told Business Standard this is the first step Distrigaz Sud is making to provide electricity to their clients. Besides supplying natural gas, Gaz de France also sells electricity in countries in which it operates. “We could buy energy or we could invest in energy production, which we are trying to do. A greenfield energy project is not quite an obvious necessity,” Gaz de France Senior Vice President, Jean-Francois Carriere, told Business Standard.

Questioned by Business Standard whether Distrigaz Sud will initially focus on energy trading, Carriere avoided a direct answer. He said that, “when you become an energy producer, you also have to operate on the electricity market as supplier.” The company aims to provide both gas and electricity by 2010.

The company is to make investments worth €79.7 million in 2008, 10 percent lower year-on-year. According to the latest data available, Distrigaz Sud posted some €484 mln in turnover in the first half of 2007.