Since the beginning of the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, Italy, which imports about 40% of its gas from Russia, has been trying to diversify its energy supply structure.

Italy imports about 40% of gas from Russia / photo ua. 

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Italy intends to increase the volume of gas imports from Algeria in order to reduce energy dependence on Russia.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi will visit Algeria tomorrow to sign an agreement on increasing gas imports. Thus, Rome will intensify efforts to find alternative energy sources after a full-scale invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine, Reuters reports, citing two sources.

Draghi will travel with a delegation expected to include the head of the Italian energy group Eni (ENI.MI), Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and Comprehensive Environmental Transformation Minister Roberto Cingolani, a government source said.

Italy, which imports about 40% of its gas from Russia, is struggling to diversify its energy mix as the war in Ukraine escalates.

Earlier this week, Cingolani said Italy was in talks with seven countries to import gas, with some talks “at a very advanced stage.”

Algeria is the second largest supplier of gas to Italy, and the Transmed pipeline has been delivering Algerian gas to Italian shores since 1983. Its daily capacity is over 110 million cubic meters, but less than 60 million cubic meters are currently transported.

Last year, gas imports from Algeria to Italy increased by 76% – up to 21.2 billion cubic meters (29% of the total).

Rome said it hopes to get another 9 billion cubic meters of gas from the North African country.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba have repeatedly called on Western countries to impose an embargo on gas and oil imports from Russia.

(C)UNIAN 2022