Gas cutting from Moscow continues: supplies drop by 67% in Tarvisio

Russia in June reduced the flow of raw materials by more than two thirds compared to previous years

UDINE. The drop in gas supplies from Russia certified yesterday by Eni is just the umpteenth confirmation of a strategy, that of Moscow, which has been very specific and has been underway for some time.

The numbers, in fact, are clear and explain how in June the flows from Siberia to Tarvisio fell by 67% compared to the average of previous years. And the risk, as they also argue in Brussels, is that supplies will be completely blocked in the near future.

The processing of Snam Rete Gas data, as mentioned, is precise and incontrovertible.

Analyzing imports by entry point, the decline in June concerns only Russia – and not the other supply channels such as Algeria or Azerbaijan -, with flows to Tarvisio down by 67.2%. to only 695 million cubic meters (equal to -70.5% on the ten-year average) following the reduction in arrivals on the Nord Stream gas pipeline.

The difference, of over 1 billion 400 million cubic meters less, was offset by an increase in all other sources: + 19.5% Algeria equal to 1 billion 947 million cubic meters, + 40% Azerbaijan to 908 million 400 thousand, + 889.3% Northern Europe to 423 million, + 5.2% Libya to 198 million, + 1.7% LNG in Porto Viro to 787 million, + 13.3% that in Livorno at 342 million 300 thousand while 293 million cubic meters arrived in Panigaglia against zero in 2021.

On a cumulative level, therefore, Italian imports in the first half of the year decreased by 1.8%, production decreased by the same percentage, net injections in storage between April and June fell by 6.4%.

With regard to stocks, at the end of June, they were 59% full, compared to approximately 61% on the same day in 2021, 79% in 2020 and 71% in 2019. The situation is similar at the EU level where stocks were at 58.2% against approximately 48% on 30 June 2021 and 80% on the same day two years ago.

Be careful, however, because at the end of last month the Italian filling rates increased a lot with the activation of a last resort purchase mechanism by Snam.

On Sunday evening, therefore in about ten days, Italian gas storage had in fact reached 64% of its filling (equal to about 6 billion 100 million cubic meters net of strategic reserves and an increase of 5% less two weeks), compared to the final goal of 90%.

«We are working to contribute to the creation of a reserve which becomes indispensable in the winter months by filling the storage areas – confirmed Stefano Venier, CEO of Snem -. We at Snam have guaranteed a contribution of approximately 1 billion 500 million cubic meters out of the 6 billion 100 million currently available and we will continue to give our support, obviously within the limits of a system operator “.

This despite the fact that, as mentioned, Eni yesterday announced a new cut in supplies from Moscow. «Gazprom – explained the Italian company – has announced that for the day of Monday 11 July) it will supply Eni with volumes of gas equal to about 21 million cubic meters per day, compared to an average of about 32 million in recent days. Eni will provide further information in the event of new and significant changes in flows “.