Who hinders Eni in Italy. Speak Bessi (Pd)
It is hypocrisy – as many in M5S do to praise Eni's foreign activities and then it hinders the development of the group in Italy. The opinion of Gianni Bessi , regional councilor of the Democratic Party in Emilia Romagna and author of the essays Natural gas. The energy of tomorrow and the House of Zar
There was talk of an amendment to the Simplification decree – later withdrawn – which aimed to block the so-called "drills". By acting in this way, amidst continuous threats to stop, is there no risk of penalizing Italian oil & gas resources even more and increasing dependence on imports?
Unfortunately. The Plan for the sustainable energy transition of suitable areas (PiTESAI) was voted by the Conte I government and represents the address of the 5 Star Movement (first by Luigi Di Maio, then by Stefano Patuanelli). It was first approved with the complicity and hypocrisy of Salvini's League, while today it is perpetuated with the complicity of the Democratic Party. The continuous postponements and attempts to insert further amendments make it clear that the political and normative path of PiTESAI is completely wrong, if not bankruptcy. And it involves the freezing of hydrocarbon exploitation activities: not only in the Adriatic Sea, but also in Basilicata and Sicily.
How much does energy weigh on the Italian trade balance?
Energy has a dramatic impact: in 2019 alone it cost us 40 billion euros. However, Italian production is being fought by many of my political colleagues and imports continue to increase. If Italian production stops, we need to think not only of the energy implications for our country, but also of Eni's financial ones.
That is?
The ministers of the 5 Star Movement say they want to guarantee and defend Eni's interests: think of the maritime tensions between Turkey and Cyprus in an area where Eni blocks are present, or of the entire Libyan affair. And yet Eni, which is 30% state-owned, produces 7% of its production in Italy. It is no small matter: I invite you to look at the impact of Italian production on the budget of the six-legged dog. And more could be done, especially in the extraction of natural gas at zero km, as has been the case for over 50 years.
Isn't it a contradiction to praise Eni's activities abroad, but to hinder them in Italy?
Better still: it is a great hypocrisy. We must ask ourselves why a program for the production of natural gas in Italy is not outlined in the places already set up. Those places, that is, in which Eni already has concessions and in which the company presented an investment plan two years ago, identifying, moreover, existing structures. The plan would lead to an increase in production in the Adriatic from less than 40 thousand barrels equivalent per day to over 100 thousand. And what about technological development? What makes Ravenna one of the most suitable sites in the world for a CCS project for the capture and storage of CO2 is precisely the proximity between the sources of CO2 emissions and the exhausted fields that allow it to be stored. In fact, increasing gas production in Ravenna with this project means producing methane with zero emissions for the good of our country and the world.
Would this be enough to cancel the Italian dependence on foreign supplies?
No, mind you. But we must take into account the fact that Italy is the fifth largest consumer of gas in the world, and that today it relies on contracts for imports from Russia, Libya and Algeria. It is not excluded that, in the future, shocks related to energy supply may occur.
Natural gas, among other things, plays a central role in Italian and European energy plans, in synergy with renewables.
This is another great hypocrisy: we decide to focus on gas but we only think about imports. Moreover, national gas at zero km would allow us to drastically reduce emissions, as well as generate savings for the country and create thousands of quality jobs protected from tensions. In Italy we have reserves, but we have to make a choice: either we choose not to exploit them, but we also take responsibility (the consequences for Eni's balance sheet and for workers); or develop a 10-15 year development program. Let's look at the Norwegian example, to satisfy those who want politically correct examples.
On renewable sources, however, what is the situation?
We must not forget that replicating cases like that of Denmark for example, where the wind is very high, is difficult. The same goes for photovoltaics and hydroelectricity. Renewables, then, are intermittent sources: it is therefore necessary to guarantee constant power. Ours is an energy-intensive society, even before being digital. We cannot think about our daily life without the energy provided by hydrocarbons. Only a new technology – which does not exist – can make it possible to overcome this phase. It can also be said that hydrocarbons must be abandoned, but it must be taken into account that these produce a part of the state budget: every time an excise duty is put on diesel, for example, the state budget becomes a little more dependent from hydrocarbons.
What are the main aspects on which Italy should focus, in your opinion?
Today we need to think about two points. The first: we have, in Italy, the possibility of producing natural gas, which would allow us not only to create new high-level employment, but also to participate in the great geopolitical game that involves all the economic and political powers in the Mediterranean. but also in the Arctic. Remembering, however, that there is no resource that, on its own, will allow us to overcome the problem of energy needs.
And the second point?
We need to devise and implement policies that do not create inequalities. If we want to encourage everything that is green, however, we must take into account the fact that "green" technologies are expensive and that not everyone is able to access them. Electric cars, for example, have high average costs.
What role can the Recovery Fund play in all of this?
The Recovery Fund can represent the opportunity – for Italy and for Europe – to strengthen the energy infrastructural network and to transform the economy in a circular sense, rethinking the entire life cycle of the product from the beginning. .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/ipocrisia-governo-gas-bessi-gianni/ on Sun, 06 Sep 2020 07:00:54 +0000.