Italy’s Eni signals new Russian gas supply shortage

Eni’s logo is seen outside its headquarters in San Donato Milanese, near Milan, Italy, April 27, 2016. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

MILAN, June 16 (Reuters) – Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI) said it would only receive 65% of the gas supply volumes it requested from Russia’s Gazprom (GAZP.MM) on Thursday after experienced a deficit the day before.

Russian gas supplies to Europe as a whole fell further on Thursday, sparking concerns over filling storage for the winter and sparking a diplomatic tussle as Gazprom accused Western sanctions of hampering maintenance work. Read more

“Gazprom explained that the under-delivery is due to problems at the Portovaya plant… which feeds the Nord Stream gas pipeline, through which Gazprom transports part of the volumes destined for Eni,” a spokesperson said. ‘Eni.

Last year, Italy bought 40% of its gas imports from Russia.

Like its European partners, Rome has endeavored to reduce its dependence on Russian energy.

Eni’s daily gas demand on Thursday was around 44% higher than on Wednesday, the spokesman said, adding that this was due to the need to recover volumes not received the day before and “commercial dynamics normal”.

Eni will therefore receive around 32 million cubic meters on Thursday, a little more than Wednesday but only 65% ​​of what it requested.

Written by Keith Weir; editing Federico Maccioni and Jason Neely

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.