quiet winter, safe Italy – Corriere.it

On gas «we have made the country safe, we should have a quiet winter season. The storages are full. We will have problems with prices, but if the 20 ends well on the price cap, we will have solved the situation. Unfortunately, we will not take away the suffering from families and businesses. We proposed the price cap months ago. The European Commission was slow, then it sped up. We also hope that the war will end “, said the Minister of Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani, speaking at the RCS Academy webinar” Repower Eu towards the Energy Union “. In Italy, stocks exceeded 90%. This means he is safe this winter. The problem, as Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi had pointed out in recent weeks, will arise from the next. Everyone is looking at the winter that is coming but “the hardest winter will be that of 2023/24” if Italy does not strengthen its infrastructures, said Eni’s CEO.

The problem of regasifiers

“We do not have a national production, we have 1/3 of the regasifiers we need and we must increase the storage capacity”, added Descalzi with reference to next winter. Regarding the regasification plants, Cingolani said: «I hope everyone realizes that national energy security depends on it. If we have the regasification ship and we won’t be able to use it, it will be a real suicide ». In Italy “there is a problem of ‘nimby’ syndrome, and someone will have to take responsibility. I was clear: the ship will remain there for three years, then we will move it to a non-invasive site ”, he specified, speaking of the Piombino regasification plant.

Roof over the price of gas

Regarding the gas price ceiling, under discussion at EU level, Cingolani explained that it will take the form of “an interval within which the FTT can vary without absurd peaks”. In Europe, “I believe that we can reach a conclusion, a compromise, which can limit costs,” he continued. The subject of the “price cap” will be discussed at the European Council on 20 October. In view of the summit, the prime minister, Mario Draghi, will continue to move in line with the French president, Emmanuel Macron. Italy has been insisting for over ten months on the proposal for a ceiling on the price of gas. Hypothesis that is now being taken seriously even by the most skeptical. The aim is to overcome the resistance of the Netherlands and Germany, which have so far always excluded this solution.