Autonomous Italy by 2023 thanks to regasification terminals and Tap-Corriere.it

With the two regasification terminals in Piombino and Ravenna, which will be installed by the summer, Italy will be able to free itself from energy dependence on Russia by the end of 2023. The two plants will produce 10 billion cubic meters of gas, exactly those imported from Moscow in 2022. The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the 878 km long gas pipeline which starts from Azerbaijan and arrives in Puglia, will also play a fundamental role. The capacity expansion project which aims to double the capacity from 10 to 20 billion cubic meters per year by 2027 has already started: the first level of expansion provides for an additional capacity of 1.2 billion cubic meters per year, through contracts of long-term transportation, available from 2026. The pipeline currently transports just over 10 billion cubic meters a year.

Urso in Azerbaijan

Within this year we will free ourselves from Russia against 40 percent (of gas, ed) who bought from Moscow in 2021 and by the 16% recorded last year. From next year we will also be able to supply other countries and in a short time we will become the European gas hub, also thanks to the doubling of the Azeri Tap, said the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, in an interview with Il Messaggero. There are other industrial opportunities with Baku as demonstrated by the Ansaldo Energia contracts which will be signed today (Monday 13 February, ed) – he adds – really significant for the relaunch of the company, and the projects on renewables and electricity presented to my colleague Pichetto in his recent visit. Minister Urso’s mission to Azerbaijan aims to strengthen the partnership between Baku and Rome, especially in energy matters. Indeed, Azerbaijan is a strategic supplier of methane and oil for Italy.

The Mattei plan

The government aims to transform Italy into the European gateway to gas and energy produced on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, as the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has repeatedly announced, who has already met several North African leaders to conclude agreements for new supplies. Algeria, which from the first half of 2022 will be Italy’s leading supplier of natural gas, will play a central role in this project, which Meloni has indicated several times as the Mattei plan, referring to the industrial policy adopted by the founder of ENI, a policy industry based on numerous agreements with the main oil-producing countries of North Africa and the Middle East. The idea of ​​a Mattei plan was launched by the Brothers of Italy in the program for the general elections of 25 September 2022. Since then the Prime Minister has returned several times to this goal. However, it is not yet clear what exactly this plan will consist of, also given the uncertain political framework of many of the North African countries that could be involved in the strategy.