Exchange of views between the CEO of Eni, Claudio Descalzi, and that of Snam, Stefano Venier, on the stage of the first assembly in Rome of Proxigas, the association of Italian gas companies. The theme? The gas connection between North and South, on the Adriatic side. Venier explained that it will take 4 years to upgrade the Adriatic Line, the gas pipeline that runs along the Adriatic coast, currently saturated. The expansion would make it possible to bring much more gas from Algeria, Azerbaijan and Libya to Northern Europe, making Italy the European methane hub. A business on which Eni is betting a lot. «They are 425 km from Sulmona to Minerbio – explained the CEO of Snam -. It takes 4 years between now and the end of 2027, and it’s an accelerated time».
The authorization at the last stretch
At that point, Descalzi took the microphone and retorted: «In Libya, with Egyptian workers, it took us 9 months to build a longer gas pipeline. Why can’t we do it in Italy too?». Venier replied that «digging in Libya is easier than in the Apennines. Furthermore, that is a seismic area, and then the authorization for the last stretch, the third, is still missing. But we plan to open the construction sites even before this last section is authorised”.
I minister: «Fundamental doubling»
The doubling of the gas pipeline along the Adriatic coast from Sulmona to Minerbio is «fundamental»: «We cannot do without the new pipe from south to north. Those 425 km must absolutely be done, and done quickly,” underlined the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto, speaking during the same event. “We aim at doubling the Tap – continued the minister -, at the strengthening of the gas pipeline which connects Algeria to Sicily and at the floating regasification terminals of Piombino and Ravenna, in addition to the fixed ones at Porto Empedocle and Gioia Tauro”. «With this gas potentially arriving from the South – the minister went on to say – we need to strengthen the South-North transport axis, whose fundamental junction is the development of the Adriatic backbone. Otherwise, from the South we cannot feed gas consumption in the North of our industries or export to Europe».