The Italian minister told what the energy security of the country depends on

ROME, Oct 11 – PRIME. Italy’s energy security depends on the future use of a floating liquefied natural gas regasification terminal in the Tuscan city of Piombino, Italy’s Minister for Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani said.

“I hope everyone understands that national energy security depends on this. If we have a regasification vessel and we cannot use it, it will be a real suicide,” Cingolani said during a seminar organized by the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

The construction of a floating terminal, which is scheduled to be put into operation next spring, is part of the Italian authorities’ strategy to gain independence from Russian gas supplies. The authorities of Piombino oppose the construction, stating environmental risks and the threat of establishing an “exclusion zone” around the city.

According to Chingolani, local residents are resisting construction or other infrastructure changes near their homes. “Someone will have to take responsibility. The ship will stay there for three years, then we will move it to a non-invasive place,” the minister said.

The need to build a terminal in Piombino was previously announced by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Engineering company Snam has already begun preparatory work at the site of the future terminal: in particular, we are talking about the construction of an 8-kilometer gas pipeline to the ship’s mooring. The newspaper il Fatto Quotidiano notes in this regard that construction began two weeks before the end of the conference, which discusses the future of the project.

It is planned that the second vessel will be deployed in the Ravenna area on the Adriatic coast in the summer of 2024. Earlier, Chingolani stated that, taking into account the savings in consumption and the receipt of new energy resources, Italy will be completely independent of gas supplies from the Russian Federation in the second half of 2024.