The objective of filling Italian gas storage to 90% is achievable, given that demand is currently lower than supply. This is what emerged from the meeting that began in the late afternoon at the Mite between the minister, Roberto Cingolani, and the representatives of some of the importing companies, to take stock of the situation. Among others were Eni, with the managing director Claudio Descalzi, and Enel. The meeting ended in the evening.
During the meeting, we mainly talked about gas storage, the actions to be taken to ensure 90% filling by the end of the year, a condition to face the winter with tranquility, waiting for the arrival of the new ones next year. supplies by pipeline and by ship.
Stocks are currently 55% full: even with the 50% cut in supplies from Russia, decided by the Kremlin in retaliation against Italy, the year-end target is achievable. For this reason, the Emergency Gas Committee of the MITE, which met yesterday, does not believe that we should go from the current level of early warning to that of alarming.
Today 28 million cubic meters have been stored, and the supply of methane on the Italian market was 20 million cubic meters higher than demand. Claudio Descalzi of Eni reiterated the need to take advantage of the summer period, where consumption is lower, to complete the reserves. However, if Russia decides to cut its supplies entirely, the 90% fill target would become problematic.
There are 18 gas importers in Italy. Snam has strategic reserves of 4.5 billion cubic meters, while another 13.5 billion are provided by energy companies. The use of the remaining four coal-fired power plants was also discussed at the meeting at the MITE, to produce energy and therefore save gas, to be allocated to reserves. Just today, the Council of Ministers decided with a decree law to extend the guarantee of Sace on credits also to storage companies, which have difficulty in financing purchases given the very high prices reached by methane on the markets.
Source: Ansa
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