Russia's Gazprom has suspended gas deliveries to the Italian company Eni, citing the problem of transportation through Austria, the Italian energy giant announced on Saturday, August 1, adding that it is working to resolve this issue.
"Gazprom told us that it is not able to confirm the delivery of the required quantities for today, citing as the reason the inability to transport gas through Austria," Eni's press release points out.
Because of this, "flows of Russian gas to Ena via the entry point in Tarvisio will be suspended," the Italian company adds.
Most of the Russian gas delivered to Italy passes through Ukraine and then through the Trans-Austrian Gas Pipeline (TAG) to Tarvisio in northern Italy on the border with Austria.
European countries and Russia have been sparring over natural gas supplies since its invasion of Ukraine in February.
The European Union points out that Moscow uses gas as an economic weapon, which it denies, blaming the impact of Western sanctions for any supply disruptions.
Tensions were heightened this Sunday after the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines - which connect Russia and Germany - leaked tonnes of methane into the Baltic Sea in what the UN believes could be the biggest spill of the climate-damaging fuel ever recorded.
In a statement to Telegram, Gazprom stated that the problem with gas deliveries to Italy was due to regulatory changes in Austria.
The Russian state-owned energy giant said gas transit through Austria was suspended after the country's grid operator refused to confirm nominations for transport.
The Austrian gas network operator was not immediately available for comment.
A spokesman for Eni, however, said that Austria continues to receive gas at the border with Slovakia.
Before the war in Ukraine, Italy imported 95 percent of its gas - about 45 percent of which came from Russia.
Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi signed new agreements with other gas producers to reduce dependence on Russia, so that as of June it is 10 percent, while imports from Algeria and the Nordic countries are growing, and the transition to renewable energy sources is accelerating.
Gazprom also reduced deliveries of natural gas to Moldova by about 30 percent, said Vadim Ceban, director of the gas company Moldovagaz.
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