EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Italy has been forced to shut down the Greenstream pipeline from Libya, losing 13 percent of its daily gas imports. But regional experts warn worse is to come. The Greenstream move on Tuesday (22 February) was made due to safety concerns for Italian energy firm ENI's Libya-based workers, which help to operate the 520-km-long pipeline out of the Libyan port of Mellitah to Gela in Sicily. Italy's economic development minister Paolo Romani told reporters Rome will hold a crisis meeting on Wednesday but said there is no risk of energy shortages. ENI said it can draw on extra supplies from Algeria, Norway and Russia. A European Commission spokeswoman added: "There's a lot of gas on the market ... There is enough gas to supply to households and also to companies." Several other energy companies, including BP, Repsol, Shell and the Netherlands' Royal Bam, are also making arrangements to get their workers out of Libya. Spain is the only other EU consumer of Libyan gas. But the EU is more heavily dependent on Libyan oil. The Paris-based International Energy Association says Libyan oil in 2010 accounted for over 20 percent of imports to Austria, Ireland and Italy, around 15 percent to France and Greece, over 10 percent to Spain and Portugal and around 8 percent to Germany and the UK.
Access Investments-Building Awareness - European Union-ROMANIA
Thursday, February 24, 2011
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Italy has been forced to shut down the Greenstream pipeline from Libya, losing 13 percent of its daily gas imports. But regional experts warn worse is to come. The Greenstream move on Tuesday (22 February) was made due to safety concerns for Italian energy firm ENI's Libya-based workers, which help to operate the 520-km-long pipeline out of the Libyan port of Mellitah to Gela in Sicily. Italy's economic development minister Paolo Romani told reporters Rome will hold a crisis meeting on Wednesday but said there is no risk of energy shortages. ENI said it can draw on extra supplies from Algeria, Norway and Russia. A European Commission spokeswoman added: "There's a lot of gas on the market ... There is enough gas to supply to households and also to companies." Several other energy companies, including BP, Repsol, Shell and the Netherlands' Royal Bam, are also making arrangements to get their workers out of Libya. Spain is the only other EU consumer of Libyan gas. But the EU is more heavily dependent on Libyan oil. The Paris-based International Energy Association says Libyan oil in 2010 accounted for over 20 percent of imports to Austria, Ireland and Italy, around 15 percent to France and Greece, over 10 percent to Spain and Portugal and around 8 percent to Germany and the UK.
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