Can Italy Become The Mediterranean Gas Hub?

ENI said on Thursday that Italy can capitalise on its strategic position to create an energy bridge between Europe and Africa, especially in the aftermath of the company’s discovery of the Zohr field in Egyptian waters. The move could help Rome create a gas hub in the Mediterranean and increase diversification in Europe. 

In order to achieve this objective, the European countries on the Mediterranean should increase cooperation through interconnections between Spain and France, and between France and Italy. Additionally, it is needed to promote an alternative to Russian gas, triggering infrastructure from Africa and the Middle East. 

This was ENI’s CEO Claudio Descalzi message in an interview to Italian daily newspaper Il Corriere della Sera on Thursday.

“In the last two years we have done more than it emerged. We were the only ones to speak about the need to stabilise Libya to stabilise the Middle East and Africa. In a few days world leaders will gather in Rome to speak about the issue” Descalzi said in the interview.

European heavyweights and the US confirmed that the UN-facilitated political process is the selected tool to bring the confrontation in Libya to an end. 

‘The Ambassadors and Special Envoys of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Head of the EU Delegation to Libya reaffirmed their strong support for the UN-facilitated Libyan Political Agreement, negotiated in Skhirat, as the only way forward to resolve Libya’s political, security and institutional crises’ reads a Joint Statement published on Tuesday. 

According to the six countries, the upcoming Rome conference will demonstrate the commitment of the international community to an urgent conclusion of the Libyan Political Agreement.

Descalzi also spoke about the political convergence of Cyprus, Egypt and Israel.