Michele Marsiglia, president of Ferdepetroli Italia, takes stock of the energy crisis and how Italy is dealing with it.
“Qatar, for Italy, has great potential given that a large part of the liquefied natural gas also comes from that country which, in some respects, is still virgin. There are large gas fields to be discovered”. Michele Marsiglia, president of Ferdepetroli Italia, tells ilGiornale.it exclusively about the meeting he recently had with the Qatari ambassador.
What was the reason for this meeting?
“Our first objective was to give a signal of closeness after the scandal that broke out in Brussels because the judiciary takes its course, politics takes its course but institutional relations must also do the same, also thinking of business. The visit it had the purpose of re-evaluating the collaboration and forms of bilateral cooperation for projects between the companies of Federpetroli Italia and projects for the exploitation of various fields of both gas and oil in the country of the emirate”.
How much is the trade between Italy and Qatar?
“Eni signed a memorandum just last year. We are talking about billions of cubic meters of gas. It must be considered that Qatar is one of the countries that has the largest reserves in the world. Qatar is not advantageous for the Italy and for Europe only for large projects, but there are also projects for medium-sized industry. For reasons of confidentiality, however, I cannot give you any figures”.
Did these exchanges stop after Qatargate?
“Europe has just started this scandal, it said it would block commercial relations with Qatar, but we have always been against it. We told the ambassador that the relationship must be even more solid, it has not been blocked. The Qatar and Morocco, the two countries that have been hit by this scandal, are not to blame, if anything, the fault is always of the individual but not of the state.Our interest is that Europe does not ruin relations and undermine the national interests of the ‘Italy”.
What is your opinion of Qatargate?
“We have already experienced scandals in Nigeria and Congo. We are used to these types of scandals. In my opinion, perhaps it is the politician who has had omnipotence in some way. I am sorry that the lobbies are blamed for all this. The responsibility of individuals” .
Is the Mattei plan not well received in Brussels?
“Perhaps not because it is going to exploit what in Africa where the EU has always been very far away, unlike Italy. Our country, in recent years, has become a hub in the Mediterranean and we fear that, precisely because of the power it has acquired, You’re starting to get annoyed in Europe. There’s a sort of energy envy also because we’ve now re-established relations with Algeria”.
How are relations with Russia now?
“Two months ago I met the Russian ambassador in Italy to whom we told that energy companies wish to continue trade relations with Russia which is a strategic partner and that the sanctions are a political measure, but at the moment trade relations are In the Middle East and Africa, on the other hand, we are collaborating quietly with the Russians”.
Could we ever achieve energy independence?
“Unfortunately, Italian refineries are not working at their maximum capacity and not many investments have been made from this point of view. Energy independence is achieved not only with commercial agreements, but also with infrastructures and in Italy, unfortunately , regasification terminals, refineries and a depot network are missing.In short, we need to build a correct national energy strategy which, in Italy, has been missing for 20 years and even the plan for new drilling has not fully started yet, over the course of 15 years , by exploiting our resources, we could satisfy 42% of energy needs”.
Source: il Giornale