A new sword of Damocles risks falling over the head of the gas market. The 10-day maintenance shutdown of Nord Stream , announced yesterday by Nord Stream Ag, a company that manages one of the main gas pipelines that brings gas to Europe, will lead to a further increase in prices.

The Minister of Ecological Trnasizione Roberto Cingolani is convinced of this. Optimistic on the storage front, the minister says that from this point of view "we are in a fairly good position", but does not hide the pitfalls.

If Russia closed the gas taps, Italy - explains an interview with Sky - would suffer less than other European countries: "It is clear, however, that we will have a difficult winter and frankly no one wants to take restrictive measures. One thing is to say we lower the temperature of the heating of a degree, or let's say for a few months we go ahead with coal-fired power plants, because in the meantime we save gas temporarily, it is one thing to say we must stop the activities. This we try not to do ".

Russia's squeeze at the moment seems to affect other countries more than Italy. "In our case it has reduced normal flows by 15%, but the closure of Nord Stream will mean that there will be even less gas and prices will rise because the gas market is speculative and there will be a further hoarding race."

(Unioneonline / L)