Government makes the supply of national gas to companies at controlled prices (gas release) inapplicable

We publish below the PRESS RELEASE signed by Enrico Gagliano, co-spokesman of the National Coordination No TRiv, of 22 June 2024 on the so-called GAS RELEASE (supply at controlled prices for companies) and on the consequent short circuit created by the current Government for having decided of not defending PiTESAI by not appealing to the Council of State. The consequences created by the lack of criteria and tools for planning the areas in which it may be permitted or prohibited to make requests for prospecting, research, cultivation of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons are notable on a regulatory level, starting from the latest “Energy Decree” itself. ” passed into law last February.

“GAS RELEASE: SHORT CIRCUIT OF THE GOVERNMENT WHICH DECIDED NOT TO DEFEND PITESAI IN THE COUNCIL OF STATE. ARRIGONI (GSE): SUPPLY OF NATIONAL GAS TO COMPANIES AT CALIBRATED PRICES (GAS RELEASE) INAPPLICABLE DUE TO THE CANCELLATION OF PITESAI.”

“Last June 20, during the work of the Assocarta Assembly, the President of the GSE, Paolo Arrigoni, declared that the Gas Release is blocked due to the cancellation of the PiTESAI ordered by some sentences of the Lazio TAR, against which the Mase (Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security) decided not to appeal to the Council of State. In its latest formulation, Gas Release is governed by law 2 February 2024, n. 11 (last so-called “Energy Decree”), which implemented the text of the legislative decree of 9 December 2023, n. 181. Article 2, paragraph 1 of the law (Measures to strengthen the security of natural gas supplies and related flexibility) provides that companies characterized by high energy consumption can purchase gas at controlled prices from companies that will extract it in the territory national.
According to the Government’s forecasts, approximately 1,000 companies operating mainly in the steel, chemical, paper and glass/ceramic sectors should benefit from the measure, with overall gas consumption of approximately 11 billion standard cubic meters per year and, consequently , particularly exposed to the increase in natural gas prices. The GSE is given the task of inviting holders of national cultivation concessions on the mainland, in the territorial sea and on the continental shelf with plants located wholly or partly in areas considered compatible within the PiTESAI (Plan for the Sustainable Energy Transition of Eligible Areas, aimed at identifying a defined framework of reference for the areas where it is permitted – and not – to carry out prospecting, research and cultivation of hydrocarbons on the national territory, aimed at enhancing their environmental, social and economic sustainability).

Paragraph 2 of the art. 2 of law 2 February 2024, n. 11 confirms, as subjects entitled to participate in the procedures, the holders of existing concessions, even if unproductive or in voluntary suspension, whose cultivation plants are located, totally or partially, in areas considered compatible by PiTESAI, considering, also for the purposes of research and development activities with new mining infrastructures, the only constraints classified as absolute by the Plan and already established on the date of entry into force of this provision, as well as guaranteeing, for anything not provided for therein, compliance with European Union legislation and international agreements. For the purposes of participation in gas release procedures, new activities and new infrastructures for the research and development of national gas production will therefore be permitted, within the scope of existing concessions and under the conditions specified above.

Paragraph 3 of the art. 2 of the law also confirms the admissibility, in derogation of the ban on upstream activities in the northern Adriatic (article 4 of law no. 9/1991) and in marine protected areas (article 6, paragraph 17, of legislative decree no. 152/ 2006), of the hydrocarbon cultivation concessions, existing or new, in the stretch of sea between the 45th parallel north and the parallel 40 kilometers away from the latter to the south, at a distance from the coastlines of at least 9 miles ( in the previous formulation, it was “at least greater” than 9 miles).
The exceptional eligibility conditions, which concern areas highly at risk of subsidence, flooding and salinisation of the Po, such as the Polesine, would remain in force for the entire duration of the useful life of the field, provided that: • the deposits demonstrate that they have a gas mining potential with a certain reserve exceeding 500 million cubic metres;
• holders of existing concessions or parties requesting new concessions must adhere to the procedures for long-term procurement, subject to prior verification of the absence of subsidence effects, without prejudice to the commitments that must be undertaken when expressing interest.
paragraph 4 of the same art. 2 confirms, in derogation of the ban on upstream activities in marine protected areas (article 6, paragraph 17, of legislative decree no. 152/2006) – for the useful life of the field – the admissibility of the cultivation of natural gas on the basis of new concessions in sea areas between 9 and 12 miles from the coastlines and from the external perimeter of the protected marine and coastal areas, always under the conditions referred to in paragraph 3.

The Gas Release mechanism, as redesigned in law 2 February 2024, n. 11, actually shows two weak points: • to supply the 1,000 or so gas-intensive companies (the so-called “energy-intensive”), guaranteeing them long-term supply contracts and at a controlled price, close to that of September-October 2021 (24,570 €/MWh), it would be necessary for the GSE to succeed in the desperate undertaking of arousing the interest of Oil & Gas companies willing to extract and supply gas at low prices and not sufficiently remunerative of production costs, after the auctions promoted by a similar tender went deserted in September 2022 .
Furthermore, according to the president of Proxigas and director of Eni’s Global Sas & Lng Portfolio, Cristian Signoretto, within the next two years gas prices will return to pre-war levels thanks to the availability of LNG. In this scenario, Gas Release seems to take on a clear propaganda value. L’cancellation of PiTESAI, which occurred as a result of the sentences of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court no. 2858 and n. 2872 of 12 February 2024 and subsequent, at the request of various mining companies, it would however seem to urge at least its rewriting, in order to specify what the conditions are that allow compliance with European Union legislation and international agreements, once PiTESAI has ceased to exist , in compliance with the programmatic resolution of COP 21 in Paris, the conditional use of the funds allocated by the New Generation EU and in the PNRR, as well as the recent provision for the protection and regeneration of at least 20% of degraded territories.

Net of the considerations expressed above, it is completely clear that the Mase, by choosing the line of inertia, by renouncing to act even through a simple temporary suspension, by hypothesizing any form of defense of PiTESAI in the Council of State, has in fact activated a dangerous short circuit, which led the President of the GSE to declare that the Gas Release is not applicable. If the current government prefers to be guided by the star of the interests of the mining companies, at the moment it shows that it is bogged down, having never explained to anyone its intention to return sic et simpliciter to the previous legislation. Having reconsidered the whole affair from another point of view, it is possible to affirm that the Government’s intention to relaunch the “tricolor drills” has so far found a formidable objective obstacle both in the low market price of gas and in the suicidal decision of the Mase to not wanting to oppose the detractors of PiTESAI and every idea of ​​area planning, favoring a short-sighted attitude of pure rhetoric. If this is the case, karma doesn’t give discounts to anyone and anyone who thinks they can found the magnificent and progressive destiny of forms of differentiated autonomy based on income from royalties can already be said to have gone astray.”

National Coordination No Triv