Italy ready to support sanctions against Russian gas

The Italian government stated that the country has refused Russian natural gas and would not object to the proposed package of EU penalties on liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is being reviewed by the European Commission.

Source: Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Italian Ministry of Energy, writes Politico

Details: At the time of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Italy was one of the countries most reliant on Russian gas supply. However, it has demonstrated astonishing speed and flexibility in diversifying its supply sources, constructing a pipeline from Algeria, and increasing LNG import capacity. 

Russia supplied fewer than 5% of Italy's total gas imports last year, up from 43% in 2020, according to official estimates.

"Italy is right now in a condition to even do without Russian gas altogether,"  the minister said.

Pichetto Fratin pointed out that Italy has sufficient gas reserves "to be relaxed".

Therefore, according to the minister, Italy "has no reason to oppose a process of new sanctions" against Russian LNG.

Earlier, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said that the new EU sanctions package against Russia will impose limits on the shadow fleet of tankers delivering Russian oil.

Before that, Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice President of the European Commission, confirmed that the EU started working on the next 14th sanctions package against Russia due to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

According to media sources, the limits should apply to the shadow fleet of tankers transporting Russian oil despite sanctions.

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