Italy's Eni sues Gazprom over gas shortages
Eni SpA, Italy’s state company, has initiated arbitration proceedings after Gazprom cut gas supplies, Bloomberg reports.
"The reductions applied by Gazprom export are subject to confidential arbitration proceedings," the company said in reply to a question from a shareholder in a document prepared for its annual general meeting on May 10.
"The contracts with Gazprom export are still in force," it added.
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Eni, a years-long Gazprom client, said that Gazprom started cutting gas supplies to Italy last June.
In an interview with La Stampa last month, Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said that the flow of Russian gas had dropped to almost zero.
Italy imported about 40 percent of its gas from Russia before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Eni managed to quickly replace Russian gas thanks to Italy's historical ties with producing countries such as Egypt, Angola, Algeria, Congo, Mozambique, and Libya, where it has secured a foothold by producing 70 percent of gas for the local market.
Italy aims to increase the volume of gas supplies from Algeria from 20 bcm to 35 bcm per year. It also plans to increase pumping through the TAP pipeline from Azerbaijan.
In addition, Italy is counting on stabilisation of the situation in Libya, which could increase supplies from 2 to 9 billion cubic metres per year.
Earlier, German Uniper, French Engie, Czech CEZ and Finnish Gasum also started arbitration proceedings with Gazprom over the reduction in supplies.
