Italy's GSE to buy up to 4 bln euros of gas to boost storage – draft & More News Here

(*4*)ROME, June 30 (Reuters) – Italy’s state-owned agency GSE will buy up to 4 billion euros ($4.17 billion) of gas to boost stockpiles, a draft decree seen by Reuters confirmed on Thursday, because the nation scrambles to sort out a gas provide squeeze from Russia.

Rome goals to have its gas storage system crammed to no less than 90% of capability by the tip of this yr, up from 58% at current.

The state vitality administration company Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE) – in cost of selling renewables – will assist boost gas stockpiles as surging vitality costs complicate operators’ efforts to assist meet the yr-finish goal set by the federal government.

The scheme, first reported by Reuters final week, remains to be topic to approval as half of a broader decree which incorporates measures value round 3 billion euros to assist households and corporations deal with sky-excessive electrical energy, gas and petrol prices.

The new measures come on prime of greater than 30 billion euros budgeted since January to soften the unfavourable affect of surging vitality prices, that are weighing on the expansion prospects of the euro zone’s third-largest economic system.

Italy final yr acquired about 40% of its imported gas from Russia and, like different EU nations, has begun efforts to diversify its vitality provide combine within the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

($1 = 0.9591 euros)

Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, modifying by Angelo Amante and David Evans

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