By Giuseppe Fonte and Francesca LandiniMILAN (Reuters) 18.6.2022.
Italy may declare a heightened "state of alert" on gas next week if Russia continues to curb its supplies, two government sources said after energy company Eni reported a shortfall in flows from Moscow for the third day in a row.
The state of alert would trigger a series of measures aimed at reducing consumption, including rationing the gas to selected industrial users under existing contracts, ramping up the production at coal power plants and also asking for more gas imports from other suppliers under existing contracts.
In case of a further worsening of the situation, Rome could switch to the full state of emergency and adopt even more aggressive measures.
Eni said it would receive only half of the gas supply volumes it had requested from Russia's Gazprom. "Against a daily gas demand by Eni of around 63 million cubic meters, Gazprom announced that it will only supply 50% of what was requested.
Italy aims to have the country's gas storage system filled to at least 90% of capacity in time for next winter. Storage stands at 54% of capacity as of Thursday. Italy has been reducing its reliance on gas supplies from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in February.
So to help ease the situation, my suggestion is to put a rocket under the Italian bureaucracy and bring PVE's Selva online as a matter of urgency.
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