By Olivia Bugault

Electricite de France SA (EDF.FR) said Friday that it has lowered its annual nuclear production forecast in France for 2019 and backed its financial targets for the year.

The state-controlled French utility said that it now forecasts an annual nuclear output of around 390 terawatt-hours, compared with an initial hypothesis of roughly 395 TWh.

"The overlapping of some intensive operations planned for the second half of the year affecting all plants is resulting in extensions to scheduled shutdowns, including in particular for the reactors at Flamanville 2 and Paluel 4," EDF said. The temporary shutdown of its French nuclear power plant Flamanville 1 also impacted its nuclear production forecast, it said.

EDF said it maintains its financial targets for 2019 and 2020.

Write to Olivia Bugault at olivia.bugault@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 25, 2019 03:13 ET (07:13 GMT)