On Saturday, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio travelled to Qatar for two days of discussions on strengthening energy cooperation, as Rome stepped up attempts to secure new gas supplies in the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis.
Underscoring the rapid push to strengthen ties with the gas-rich Gulf state, Prime Minister Mario Draghi also met with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, with energy high on the agenda, according to Draghi’s office.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the West imposed broad sanctions that threaten to impede commodity flows, creating the prospect of gas shortages, outages, and significant price hikes.
Italy is particularly vulnerable. It generates 40 percent of its electricity using gas, and imports meet more than 90 percent of its gas requirements. Last year, Russia accounted for 40 percentage points of those imports, and the administration has stated that it wishes to reduce its dependency.
Claudio Descalzi, the CEO of the Italian energy firm Eni, accompanied Di Maio to Qatar. The previously unreported travel followed the two men’s journey to Algeria on Monday, where they requested additional gas supply.
‘We are trying to boost our gas supply in the short, medium, and long term in order to prevent blackmail and have alternatives to Russian gas,’ Di Maio said in a statement on Saturday.
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