France had 122 million barrels of proven oil reserves at the beginning of 2007. Including refinery gain, the country produced 78,900 barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil in 2006. Despite the lack of significant domestic production, France is one of the largest consumers of oil in the world. According to the 2008 BP Statistical Energy Survey, France consumed an average of 1919.3 thousand barrels a day of oil in 2007, 2.3% of the world total and a change from 2006 of -34.02 tbpd. To meet this demand, France had net crude oil imports of 1.57 million bbl/d in 2006, the largest sources of these imports being Norway, Saudi Arabia and Russia. Due to the lack of domestic oil sources, the French government has encouraged the use of nuclear power as an alternative energy source to oil where possible, and the proportion of France's total energy consumption derived from oil has decreased from 71% in 1973 to 36% in 2004.
France imports almost all of its natural gas needs and, according to the 2008 BP Statistical Energy Survey, France had 2007 natural gas consumption of 41.88 billion cubic metres, 1.42% of the world total.
According to the 2008 BP Statistical Energy Survey, France had a 2007 refinery capacity of 1959.27 thousand barrels a day, 2.22% of the world total.
