Italy wants to attract Turkmen gas to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline
As Europe deals with significant energy price increases, Italy, which imports more than 95% of its energy, sees diversification of gas supplies as a "strategic necessity". Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Manlio Di Stefano, in particular, monitors the energy dossier and Italy's relations with the countries of Central Asia that are major gas producers.
“The impact of the crisis is manifested in terms of increasing the cost of energy for businesses and households. As in all of Europe, we have dependence problem on several sources, mainly from Russia. Moscow has almost halved gas flows destined for us via the Ukrainian route, and this threat to our energy security, probably also politically motivated, requires urgent action to protect our interests,” he said in an interview with la Repubblica newspaper.
“The major gas suppliers to Italy are Russia and Algeria. While Algeria has its own interests as domestic consumption grows, it has shown itself to be very reliable in compliance with existing contracts. Existing pipelines, even from Russia, should work and we hope that import levels can start to rise again, but we necessitate to diversify. From this need, TAP was born” (The Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline, a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which goes to the coast of Puglia supplying Azerbaijani gas to Italy).
The newspaper also notes that Manlio Di Stefano was previously opposed to TAP, primarily in terms of its impact on the environment.
“This is a question of a different historical context,” Di Stefano retorts. “When we started talking about TAP, we hadn’t discussed the ecological transition yet. Today, gas is the element with which the ecological transition can be made.”
Di Stefano has previously disputed the fact that TAP could bring a significant amount of gas to Italy.
“The world of energy has changed over the last decade,” the deputy minister informs today in an interview. “Before we had no difficulties with imports. Russia has not reduced exports, Algeria exported more than now. The international geopolitical framework today is completely different ... Circumstances today make me say: fortunately, there is TAP.
To the question if the government is working to increase flows in the Southern Gas Corridor, Di Stefano answered: "We are working on increasing supplies from the current 7 bcm to 10 bcm. Another future prospect is Turkmenistan, which could connect to the TAP pipeline in the Caspian Sea."
“Turkmenistan owns one of the largest fields in the world,” he noted, explaining why Europe should join “this game, including taking into account the fact that India and China are increasing consumption levels and diverting world gas reserves: if we don’t arm ourselves with the resources needed to accompany the energy transition, we risk that the coming winters will be more and more difficult.”
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