Page 8 - FSUOGM Week 09 2022

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM

Italy to take "exceptional" measures

to ease Russian gas supply risks

ITALY ITALY is preparing to introduce “exceptional” but that the supply situation is currently “ade-
measures to ease the risk of a disruption to Rus- quate” to cover domestic demand.
Italy is one of the main sian gas supplies following Moscow’s invasion of Italy has some 7.3 bcm of gas currently in
markets for Russian gas Ukraine, its government said in a statement on storage, according to data published by Gas
in Europe. February 26. Infrastructure Europe, representing 39% of full
Italy is the second-biggest gas importer in capacity. GIE data shows that EU-level stocks are
Europe, and much of this supply comes from currently only 30% full.
Russia. It bought 21bn cubic metres of gas from In addition to Russian supplies, Italy also
Russia’s state-owned Gazprom in 2020, covering receives piped gas from Algeria, Libya and Azer-
approximately a third of its demand. But like baijan, and also has three terminals where it can
Germany to the north, Italy is now reassessing its import LNG.
reliance on Russian energy in light of the latter's Further ahead, Italian Prime Minister Mario
actions in Ukraine. Draghi has called on Italy to reduce its reliance
Italian gas storage is already heavily regu- on Russian gas.
lated, requiring users to keep a minimum level “The events of these days show it was impru-
of stocks in the country. But further measures dent not to have diversified more our sources
are needed given the country’s relative depend- of energy and our suppliers in recent decades,”
ence on Russian imports, Italy’s Ministry of Draghi said.
Ecological Transition said in a statement on Specifically, Italy will look to bring more gas
February 26. in from the US, Draghi said, thanking US Pres-
“The level of danger of the threat to supplies ident Joe Biden for his aid in facilitating this, as
is significantly higher than that envisaged in the well as from Azerbaijan, Algeria, Tunisia and
risk analyses carried out in the past, from which Libya. An expansion in Azeri supply would
the current preventive and emergency action require additional upstream development in the
plans derive,” the ministry said. It added that it Caspian Sea and an expansion in the capacity of
wanted to make gas system users aware of the the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) pipeline sys-
uncertainty relating to the conflict in Ukraine, tem. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 09 02•March•2022