Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom PJSC suspended natural gas deliveries to Italy, escalating a deepening energy crisis in Europe.
"Gazprom informed that it is not able to confirm the gas volumes requested for today, stating that it’s not possible to supply gas through Austria. Therefore, today’s Russian gas supplies to Eni through the Tarvisio entry point will be at zero,” Eni SpA, Italy’s largest oil company, said in a statement on its website on Saturday.
An Eni spokesman said that Austria appeared to be receiving gas from Gazprom.
"We are working to check with Gazprom whether it is possible to reactivate the flows to Italy,” the spokesman said.
European countries have been rushing to find alternatives to Russian gas and protect against supply interruptions as Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to choke off energy to the continent to put pressure on the European Union over several rounds of sanctions in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The cutoff of Italian gas comes days after underwater explosions crippled the key Nord Stream gas pipeline connecting Russia with Europe. US President Joe Biden yesterday echoed the assessment of Western European leaders that the pipelines were sabotaged and added that Russian statements about the incident shouldn’t be trusted.
