Premier Mario Draghi said Tuesday that
his government was preparing for the possibility that Russia
could cut off gas supplies in retaliation for sanctions imposed
on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
"The government is working to mitigate the impact of eventual
problems regarding energy supplies," Draghi said as he reported
to the Senate on the Ukraine crisis.
"At the moment there are no signals of the supply of gas being
interrupted.
"Nevertheless, it is important to asses every eventuality, given
the risk of reprisals and a possible further stiffening of the
sanctions".
He said that Italy would have more to lose than other European
countries if Russia decided to cut off gas supplies, while
stressing that "this does not diminish our determination to
support sanctions that we consider justified and necessary".
He said Russia cutting off gas supplies would not be a problem
in the short term.
"Italy imports about 95% of the gas it consumes and over 40%
comes from Russia," he said.
"Even a complete interruption of gas flows from Russia, starting
from the coming weeks, should not lead to problems in the short
term.
"Italy still has 2.5 million cubic metres of gas in stock and
the arrival of warmer temperatures should mean lower consumption
by families.
"Our prediction is that we will be able to absorb peaks of
demand via the volumes in stock and other importation
capacities".
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