Italy to zero Russian gas imports between 2024 and 2025

ROME, 23 JAN (ANSA) - Italy is expected to zero out its natural gas imports from Russia in 2024 or 2025.

The forecast is the CEO of Italian oil giant ENI, Claudio Descalzi, who accompanied Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on an official visit to Algeria, the main supplier of the commodity to the European country today.

"I am optimistic, I would say winter 2024/2025. If they continue like this, things will be on track," said the executive on Monday (23), when asked in Algiers about the deadline to zero Russian gas imports.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Italy is one of the European countries that have moved most to diversify their sources of natural gas, increasing imports from nations such as Angola, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Congo, as well as Algeria itself.

The latter supplied Italy with 21 billion cubic meters of gas per year before the war, but that figure reached 25 billion by 2022 and is expected to rise to 28 billion by 2024.

The European country's goal is to become a kind of "energy bridge" between Africa and Europe, benefiting from its position in the Mediterranean. (ANSA).