Two Italian ministers will travel to Central Africa yesterday on an urgent mission to secure new energy deals as Italy struggles to end its dependence on Russian gas amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is hoping for deals to import gas from Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo instead of Russia, which supplies about 45 percent of his country’s gas needs.
The Italian prime minister said in an interview with the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera published on Sunday: “We no longer want to rely on Russian gas, because economic dependence should not turn into political subordination, and it is possible to diversify sources and realize this in a relatively short period, and faster than we imagined. “A month ago”. Draghi, who recently contracted COVID-19, decided to send his Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and Environmental Transformation Minister Roberto Cingolani to Luanda yesterday and Brazzaville on Thursday. They will be accompanied by Claudio Decalzi, CEO of the Italian energy giant Eni. Mozambique could be added to the list in May, noting that Italy has signed agreements with Egypt and Algeria in recent weeks. Italy imports about 95 percent of the gas it consumes. This is one of the European countries most dependent on Russian gas, while Algeria supplies it with about 30%.
Eni said in a statement that the agreement with Algerian Sonatrach provides for a gradual increase in gas volumes “from 2022 to 9 billion cubic meters in 2023-2024” through the Transmed pipeline, which connects the two countries via Tunisia and the Mediterranean Sea.
In 2021, the reserve capacity of the Transmed gas pipeline reached about 7.8 billion cubic meters, but the operating company said it was ready to increase it.
Italy is one of the European countries most dependent on gas (42 percent of its energy consumption). The government hopes to reduce its dependence on gas by accelerating investment in renewable energy and removing administrative barriers to solar and wind energy projects.
