Energy, Cingolani after Putin’s announcement: “Italy will go ahead even without Russian gas”

Today, Thursday 31 March, the leader Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree which provides for the suspension of active contracts for the trade of Russian natural gas to the so-called “hostile countries” which will not pay for supplies in rubles. The response of the Italian Minister for the ecological transition, Roberto Cingolani, it was not long in coming: “At the moment, Italian gas reserves still allow the country’s activities to continue,” he said, “even in the event of sudden and unlikely interruptions to Russian supplies”. Faced with the threat of suspension of supplies to European countries that will not be willing to abandon the euro for transactions with Moscow, Cingolani replies: “The Italian government is in constant contact with European partners in order to give a univocal and firm response to the Russia by all member states “.

He also announces that «The Prime Minister Mario Draghi the German Chancellor will hear in the evening Scholz, and bilateral talks are underway between energy ministers ”. In early March, Cingolani announced that it was working to make Italy independent from Russian gas within 24-30 months. “We import approximately every year from Russia 29 billion of cubic meters of gas, which are approximately just over 40% of gas that we import. These need to be replaced and at the moment we have done an extremely quick operation and by about late spring 15-16 billion cubic meters they will be replaced by other suppliers in other parts of the world “, explained the Minister.