Draghi called on the G7 countries to solve the problem of gas prices together

ROME, Oct 11 – PRIME. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi stressed at Tuesday’s G-7 virtual summit that despite the diversification of energy sources, natural gas prices remain too high.

“We have managed to diversify our energy sources and become more independent of Russian gas. However, energy prices are still too high. This is a problem that we must consider together,” the press service of the government’s Chigi Palace quoted the prime minister as saying.

After the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, the Italian government set the task of breaking free from dependence on natural gas imported from the Russian Federation as soon as possible. At Draghi’s initiative, concrete steps were taken and new agreements were signed to diversify energy sources and, in particular, increase gas supplies from Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, the Republic of the Congo and a number of other countries. According to official data, by September the share of gas supplies from the Russian Federation decreased from 40% to 18%. Given the savings in consumption, Italy expects to become completely independent of Russian gas supplies in 2024.