(Finance) – The Premier Mario Draghi and the Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio they will be today in Algiers to conclude agreements on gas supplies and avoid dependence on Russia. This was announced by the head of the Farnesina, explaining “unfortunately we are late as a country, we had to diversify much earlier but we have many partners and friends around the world”.
“In the last month and a half – he added – I have been in Algeria, Qatar, Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Azerbijan: all these countries have expressed their willingness to increase supplies to Italy “.
To accompany Draghi the Minister of Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani and the Chief Executive Officer of Eni, Claudio Descaliziwhich just recently visited the partner countries of North Africa and, above all, Algeria, for cement the historical collaboration with Sonatrach and define the opportunities for increasing gas supply, through the TransMed pipelinein the short and medium term.
But how much can the supply of gas from Algeria increase? It is estimated that Eni’s share of the offer will almost double, with 9 billion cubic meters in addition to the 10 billion that flowed into Italy in 2021, plus supplies to other Italian and foreign operators for a total of 21 billion in 2021.
From Russia we currently receive 29 billion cubic meters of gas and therefore the agreement with Algeria, which also concerns renewables, should easily make it possible to replace at least one third of the supply from Russia by the autumn. Then, the Italian strategy also focuses on liquefied gas (LNG) from the United Statesbut it takes more regasifiersthe first of which will only be available in the first half of 2023. He will take care of it Snam who is closing the contract of renting a ship for a capacity of 5 billion cubic meters.