French use of gas to beat the heat could backfire in winter

London

AS southern France emerges from a four-month assault of searing heat, the country is scrambling to avert getting caught out by a winter cold snap again.

Natural gas that should be going into storage is being used to cool people down, meaning the nation may not have enough fuel to warm everyone up come winter. Storage levels are near a five-year low, while an infrastructure bottleneck that propelled the country's gas prices to the highest in the world last winter hasn't been resolved.

To make matters worse, the nuclear fleet, France's main source of electricity for heating, is mired in uncertainty and will be subject to inspections that could halt reactors for indefinite p…