Gas, would Italy need to resume imports from Russia?

MELONS: "IMPORTING RUSSIAN GAS WOULD NOT DROP THE PRICE DOWN"

“A new import of Russian gas would not lead to a reduction in the price.” This is how Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni responded to the criticisms of Futuro Nazionale, which instead would like to resume commercial relations with Moscow. Do we really need to start importing gas from Moscow again? Who keeps doing it? This was also discussed in the episode of Numeri, an in-depth analysis by Sky TG24, on 14 October.

DESCALZI: "RUSSIAN GAS DIDN'T COST ANY LESS"

Even the CEO of Eni Claudio Descalzi, exactly one year ago, defined it as "wrong" to say that "Russian gas cost less". In fact, he explained that "it cost less for the Russians", in the sense that production was very cheap for them, but when selling it to partners the price still referred to the value on the market or that established through agreements.

ITALY'S GAS PURCHASES BEFORE THE WAR IN IRAN

Amid today's energy crisis, would we really need Russian gas? In the first quarter of 2026, before the war in Iran, Italy bought mainly from Algeria (37%), then from the United States (18%), Azerbaijan (16%), Norway (12%), Qatar (9%) and from other countries (8%).

GAS BLOCKED FROM QATAR

The situation now is more or less the same, except that imports from Qatar are blocked, precisely because of the conflict in the Middle East.

90% GAS REPLACED FROM QATAR

However, we managed to replace almost entirely, 90%, the share of Qatari gas that we were used to receiving, assured Nicola Monti, CEO of Edison, the company that has the agreements with Qatar itself. For the most part now that slice comes from the USA.

THE EU BAN ON RUSSIAN GAS

It must also be said that, if we wanted, we could still buy Russian gas: the European tender will start next year.

THE VALUE OF EUROPEAN PURCHASES OF RUSSIAN GAS

There are European states that continue to buy Russian gas, for a value of around one billion euros per month (with data updated in August).

EU COUNTRIES THAT BUY GAS FROM MOSCOW

At the top of the countries that buy the most gas from Moscow is France (which has purchased 2.3 billion LNG so far in 2026). Followed by Belgium (1.65 billion) and Spain (1.54 billion).