PARIS, January 1 (RIA Novosti, Andrei Nizamutdinov) - The French authorities hope that despite the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas deliveries, the countries will fulfill their delivery and transit obligations to European consumers, a source in the French Industry Ministry said Sunday.
"The French authorities have a rather quiet attitude to the situation and are certain that a responsible approach will prevail eventually," French newspapers quoted the source as saying.
The ministry and France's natural gas company Gaz de France said they hoped that if any problems occurred over Russian gas transit via Ukraine, their country would survive for some time thanks to accumulated reserves and deliveries from Norway and Algeria.