Annalisa Girardi
This year Italy has become the second largest buyer of Russian natural gas, outdoing Turkey. Rome and Moscow historically have had close commercial ties within the energy sector, being Eni, an oil and gas Italian company and one of the largest multinationals in the sector, the first Western business to become a commercial partner to the Kremlin. This year Italy has become Russia’s second market, buying 18,3 billion cubic meters gas, against the 17,9 billion cubic meters acquired by Ankara. According to Bloomberg, Germany remains far in its first place, with 42,7 billion cubic meters gas purchased from Siberian gas fields.
Russian gas is a precious resource for Italy since it provides more than one-third of its total domestic demand. Natural gas originated in Russia reaches Italy mainly through the Trans Austria Gas (TAG) pipeline, a 380 kilometers duct hold at 89% by Eni. At this moment, 40% of national requirements are met by Gazprom, the Russian business that is also a major oil and gas companies worldwide, as well as being state-owned at 50%. The rest of Italian energy needs are mainly covered at 25% by Algeria and at 6% by Libya, while the country imports from Qatar the majority of liquefied natural gas which is later processed at the regasification plants.
