Italy is talking with several countries, including the United States, Azerbaijan and Algeria, to secure gas supplies now that Iranian strikes on Qatar appear to have halted its exports for an extended period, Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said.
Iranian attacks have whipped out 17% of Qatar's liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity, causing an estimated $20 billion in lost annual revenue and threatening supplies to Europe and Asia, QatarEnergy's CEO told Reuters on Thursday.
"The very fact that Qatar's LNG plant that had been shut down was also bombed had a devastating impact on prices," Pichetto Fratin said on Friday, attending an event in Milan.
Edison, an Italian unit of French power company EDF, has a long-term contract with QatarEnergy for the supply of 6.4 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Italy, nearly 10% of the country's annual gas consumption.
Earlier this month, Qatar had already declared force majeure on gas exports, flagging to Edison, and it would not be able to fulfill its contractual obligations concerning April.
The pause in supplies is likely to be longer-lasting after its gas infrastructures were hit hard this week, QatarEnergy's CEO added.
Pichetto Fratin said on Friday that despite the disruption in supplies from the Middle East, Italy agreed with the European Union that the bloc should not return to buying its gas from Russia.
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