The agreement aims to tap Swiss Transitgas transport infrastructure for gas flows from France to Italy through Switzerland to support Swiss supply security, according to a news release Tuesday from Eni. Effective from December 2 to September 30, 2024, Swiss authorities will not adopt any restrictive measures on Eni’s rights to gas transportation through Switzerland.
The initiative is part of the commitment to strengthening cooperation between Italy and Switzerland, Eni said. In July, the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security and the Swiss Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications signed a joint declaration on energy security, according to the release.
In March 2022, Switzerland’s Federal Council decided to allow gas industry companies to make joint purchases of gas so that the industry can quickly secure gas and storage capacities without having to fear consequences under competition law. The country is completely dependent on imports for its gas. In May 2022, the Federal Council also introduced a requirement for the industry to secure storage capacities in neighboring countries along with options for additional gas supplies in addition to ordinary procurement, according to the website of the council.
At a meeting at the World Economic Forum 2023 with Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, Federal Councillor Albert Rösti addressed Switzerland's cooperation with Germany in the energy sector. The two ministers agreed that a trilateral solidarity agreement with Italy should be sought going forward.
CCS Integrated Project Selected by European Commission
Meanwhile, Eni announced that an integrated carbon capture and storage (CCS) integrated project it proposed with Snam SpA has been selected by the European Commission to join the list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI) along with 13 other CCS-dedicated projects.
The Callisto (CArbon LIquefaction transportation and STOrage) Mediterranean CO2 Network is anchored on the Ravenna CCS storage hub of Eni and Snam. Callisto aims to develop a CCS value chain in southwestern Europe, focusing on the decarbonization of Italian industrial areas, starting with those in Ravenna and Ferrara and the Fos-Marseille Hub in France, Eni said in a separate news release. The project is led by Eni and Snam in Italy and Air Liquide for the Fos-Marseille industrial cluster in France, along with 16 other companies operating in the industrial clusters involved, according to the release.
Callisto aims to develop the largest CCS network in the Mediterranean leveraging the Ravenna hub, which can store more than 500 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. The project is expected to officially become part of the PCI list in 2024, and it will then be eligible for the Connecting Europe Facility Fund (CEF), aimed at obtaining non-reimbursable funding to support the studies and development of infrastructure for the reception, transport, and storage of carbon dioxide, Eni said.
The start-up of the first phase of the CCS Ravenna project is scheduled for early 2024, targeted to capture 25,000 metric tons per year of carbon dioxide from Eni's Casal Borsetti gas power plant. The industrial development of the second phase, which is scheduled to start in 2026, will achieve a storage capacity of 4 million metric tons per year by 2030, Eni said, adding that further expansions could bring the volumes up to 16 million metric tons per year.
