Gazprom points out Italy's rising demand for gas after Eni requests more discounts
MOSCOW. June 13 (Interfax) - Russian gas giant Gazprom has reminded Italian energy company Eni, which is venturing to revise Russian gas supply contracts for a third time, that demand for Russian gas is on the rise on the Italian market.
According to a Gazprom press release, the Russian company's chief Alexei Miller and Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni met in Amsterdam on Tuesday to discuss "issues of Russian natural gas supplies to the Italian market, and they noted three-fold growth in Gazprom's supplies to Italian consumers this year."
Gazprom and Eni have twice made alterations to the gas supply contracts - once in March 2010 and again in March 2012. All the changes resulted in a lower base price for gas and a lower minimum annual contracted gas quantity. In both cases, the contracts were rewritten retroactively. Despite the substantial reduction in the minimum contracted quantity of gas to be bought by Italy, Eni has not once fulfilled its 'take or pay' commitment since the start of the crisis.
Gas supplied by Gazprom is the most expensive on the European market, and importers buy it as a last resort. However, this year the Russian gas giant's competitors - Norway, Algeria and Qatar - have cut supplies to the European market for various reasons, thereby driving up gas procurements from Russia. In the first quarter, gas deliveries to Italy soared 53% to 6.82 billion cubic meters (bcm) (supplies totaled 15.1 bcm in 2012). The high level of deliveries continues today, which weakens negotiators' position regarding lower prices.
