The discussion on the price cap is postponed, but the next few days could still be decisive in terms ofgas emergency. While the supply situation from Russia worsens – with the yellow of the damage to the Nord Stream pipeline due to alleged "accidents", on which some read the signature of Vladimir Putin - the good news for our country comes from the storage front.
Gas: Italy already at 90% of stocks
The Ministry of Ecological Transition has announced that Italy has already reached 90% of its gas storage capacity, thus achieving the target set for the end of autumn in advance. "A goal made possible by the intense work carried out by the government in recent months, thanks also to Snam and the support of Gse and Arera - said the minister Roberto Cingolani – This result allows us to point towards an even more ambitious goal, which we will be working on in the coming weeks, i.e 92-93% filling of storages, so as to guarantee greater flexibility in the event of peaks in winter consumption”.
Storage full but bills rising
The goal achieved on storage – the EU has set a filling obligation of at least 80-85% – will unfortunately not spare Italian consumers a new leap in bills in October. The forecasts of Energy Name indicate + 60% for electricity and + 70% for gas. Until now, household prices have remained under control as a result of government measures, but from 1 October the Energy Authority may have to register the new shocks in the market. In the meantime, however, Arera has given the green light to the monthly gas bills instead of bimonthly and this could contain the impact of the increases.
As regards the rationing gas, on the other hand, filling the storage reassures. However, the hypothesis of a forced containment of consumption has not been completely shelved: it will also depend on the harshness of the winter and on how the "gas war" with Russia will continue.
Piombino regasification terminal: Snam optimistic about timing
As regards the Piombino regasification plant, "we have the deadline of 30 October for the green light and I have no reason right now to say that we can't close positively - said Stefano Venier, CEO of Snam, during the Italian Energy Summit organized by the Sun 24 Hours – Then six months of intense work will begin in Piombino to restore the regasification terminal available for next summer".
Eni: "Independence from Russian gas by winter 24-25"
The goal is of course overcome our country's dependence on Russian gas and Eni estimates that it will be achieved by winter 2024-2025. However, underlines CEO Claudio Descalzi, to achieve this, more regasification terminals will be needed, in addition to the diversification of supply sources not only in Algeria and Northern Europe, but also in other countries such as Egypt, Nigeria, Congo, Mozambique, Qatar and Indonesia.
EU: Energy Council on Friday to prepare for winter
Meanwhile, on Friday in Brussels a Extraordinary Council Energy in which the European ministers of the sector will meet to discuss on how to contain the price increase. In particular, ministers will try to reach a political agreement on a proposal for a Council regulation, which contains measures of an exceptional and temporary nature, aimed at alleviating the pressure of high energy prices on citizens and businesses. It will not be an easy task, especially considering that Europe currently imports 58% of the energy it uses.
The split on the gas price cap
In recent days 13 European countries have sent a letter to Brussels asking to also bring a proposal for price cap on the table of the Energy Council on Friday. However, this is a very divisive topic, on which Europe continues to stall.
“The price cap, requested from the outset by an ever-increasing number of EU states – reads the letter – is the only measure that will help each country to mitigate inflationary pressure, manage expectations, provide a framework in case of potential supply disruptions and limit the extra profits of the sector. The cap should apply to all transactions and not be limited to imports from specific jurisdictions."
Together with Italy, the list of countries signatory to the letter includes Spain, Poland, Greece, Belgium, Malta, Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia and Romania. As is evident, France and Germany are missing from the list, and that will be enough to further postpone the discussion on the price cap.
