27 April 2024
‘The global gas market has to maintain its resilience to cope with unexpected events’: Elio Ruggeri, Snam
Publication date: 30 November 2023
Gas Strategies Group
10 Saint Bride Street
London UK
EC4A 4AD
ISSN: 0964-8496
Twitter @GasStrategies
Editorials
Subscriptions
Elio Ruggeri, executive director for LNG at Italian gas network operator Snam, oversees the group’s regas terminals, both in operation and under development. He began working in the gas industry in the mid-1990s. Before joining Snam in 2018, he was in charge of gas supply and infrastructures at Italian energy company Edison, now owned by EDF, where he dealt with international projects and contract negotiations with suppliers.
The Russia-Ukraine war has had a massive impact on Italy, whose energy mix has long relied on natural gas, almost all of it imported. In 2022, Russia supplied Italy with 19% of the gas it received, down from 40% in 2021, and Rome is keen to be free of Russian gas by the end of this year. To achieve this, Italy’s strategy has focused on the expansion of its LNG import capacity through the deployment of floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), as well as the maximisation of pipeline flows, particularly those that that run from south to north.
Snam has played a key role in this strategy. In this interview, Ruggeri discusses with LNG Business Review the challenges faced by the Snam as it navigates this momentous period for the industry, as well as the company’s long-term vision on natural gas at a time when the global energy market is torn between optimistic views and those that warn of the risk of stranded assets.