By John Ikani
Italy on Wednesday penned a deal with Angola to ramp up gas supplies from the southern African country as it urgently scrambles to break away from Russian gas over the Ukraine war.
It was signed by Angolan Mineral Resources Minister Diamantino Azevedo and Italy’s Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani in Luanda, Angola’s capital.
The agreement will increase Italy’s gas purchases from the southern African nation and facilitate joint energy projects that will also involve renewables and liquified natural gas, according to a statement.
It builds on recent deals with Algeria and Egypt and comes amid a scramble by European countries to secure alternatives to Russian supplies amid the war in Ukraine.
A declaration of intent was signed to develop “new” natural gas ventures and to increase exports to Italy, a statement from the Italian foreign minister announced.
“Today we have reached another important agreement with Angola to increase gas supplies,” Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said in the statement.
“Italy’s commitment to differentiate energy supply sources is confirmed,” said Di Maio at the end of a two-and-half-hour long visit to Luanda.
Di Maio, along with Energy Minister Roberto Cingolani, traveled to Angola in lieu of Prime Minister Draghi, who tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week.
The delegation’s next stop is the Republic of Congo, where Italian energy giant Eni SpA may announce another import agreement, people familiar with the matter said last week. That could be followed by a trip to Mozambique, though plans haven’t yet been confirmed, according to people familiar with the matter.
Heritage Times gathered that the deals in Angola and the Republic of Congo could bring Italy an additional 1.5 billion cubic meters and 5 billion cubic meters a year. respectively.
Italy currently gets about 40% of its gas from Russia, and Draghi has acted quickly to try to replace that supply with flows from elsewhere since President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February.
With Eni already present in more than a dozen countries in Africa, the continent is an attractive option for Italy.
The company last week signed a major deal with Algeria that will see the North African country provide an additional 9 billion cubic meters of gas a year by 2023-2024 — and potentially become Italy’s top supplier. Eni also struck an agreement with Egypt to increase flows of liquefied natural gas to Italy.
