Italy gained independence from the Russian LNG

The Italian government managed to diversify LNG supply sources in order to get rid of Russian gas.

Italy no longer needs Russian gas. This was announced on May 24 by the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security of Italy, Gilberto Picetto Fratin.

As Prime Minister Georgia Maloney confirmed, the amount of Russian gas flowing to Italy is now very small and is no longer critically important for the country.

One of the key elements of the diversification of gas sources will be the installation of a floating regasification unit (FSRU). At the end of 2023, the Italian company Snam acquired the company FSRU I Limited. It owns the floating installation BW Singapore, which is currently off the coast of Egypt. It is planned that the FSRU will be moved to the coast of Italy as early as next year.

As a reminder, until February 24, 2022, Italy was one of the Western European countries that imported Russian gas the most. However, after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government in Rome actively worked on diversifying supplies, signing agreements with other countries, in particular African ones.

Currently, the share of Russian gas in the total volume of supplies to Italy is about 5%, while in 2021 it was 35%.

Earlier, the Italian government already declared that it could do without the Russian LNG.