Italy’s Eni warns of severe winter 2023-2024

ROME, Oct 8 – PRIME. The head of the Italian oil and gas group Eni Claudio Descalzi warned that the coming winter in terms of overcoming the consequences of the energy crisis may be easier than the next after it.

“Everyone is looking at the coming winter, but the winter of 2023-2024 will be harder if Italy does not strengthen its infrastructure. More storage volumes, more regasifiers (terminals for LNG processing) are needed,” he said, speaking at a public event in Bergamo.

According to Descalzi, the energy system requires redundancy, since any incident will threaten “shortness of breath.”

He added that the decline in gas prices is due, among other things, to a drop in the share of Russian gas supplies, which in Europe now accounts for 9% of the volume.

“The system is adapting through increasing inventory, reducing consumption and increasing efficiency,” he was quoted as saying by la Stampa newspaper.

On Thursday, Descalzi said Italy is now well positioned to get through the coming winter, with Russian gas largely substituted.

Last week, Italy’s Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani said the target of 90% filling of the nation’s gas storage facilities had been met ahead of schedule and the government would aim to achieve 92-93% filling. He noted that currently the country even exports gas abroad.

On October 1, Gazprom announced the suspension of gas supplies to the Apennines through Austria due to the refusal of the Austrian operator to confirm transport nominations due to regulatory changes in the country. However, Eni said on Wednesday that a solution had been found and gas supplies to Italy via Austria had resumed.