Reuters: Snam CEO says Italy could cope with interruption of Russian gas flows

Italy has enough reserve stocks of gas and diversified energy sources to cope if gas supplies from Russia are interrupted due to the current crisis in Ukraine, the CEO of Italy's gas distributor Snam told an Italian daily on Sunday.

Relations between Russia and the West have fallen to their lowest ebb since the Cold War following Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and the outbreak of clashes involving pro-Russia militia in the east of the country.

Ita'A third of the European Union's gas imports are met by Russia, with almost half of that passing through Ukraine. Italy is heavily dependent for its energy needs on foreign suppliers, including Russia's Gazprom.

But a long recession in Italy that has depressed consumption and a mild winter mean domestic gas stocks are high.
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