The volume of gas injected into the Italian grid in 2013 was 69.01 billion cubic meters, down 8.9% year on year, gas grid operator Snam Rete Gas said.
In its 2013 consolidated financial results statement Friday, Snam said the fall was mainly due to lower gas demand in Italy, led by a decrease in power-plant demand because of higher renewables output, and an increase in storage withdrawals.
In detail, natural gas injected into grid from domestic production fields accounted for 7.48 Bcm, down by 8.4% year on year.
Imports, including regasified gas at Italy's three LNG terminals of Cavarzere, Livorno and Panigaglia, stood at 61.53 Bcm, down by 9% year on year.
Flows from Algeria through the Mazara del Vallo entry point fell by 40.2% to 12.46 Bcm, from northern Europe through Passo Gries were down by 17.1% to 7.49 Bcm and from Libya through Gela fell by 11.9% to 5.7 Bcm.
Conversely, imports of Russian gas into Tarvisio rose by 26.9% to 30.26 Bcm.
LNG IMPORTS DOWN ON HIGHER FAR EAST DEMAND
LNG output at the Cavarzere terminal in northeast Italy dropped by 13.3% to 5.35 Bcm, while it stood at 210 million cu m at the Livorno terminal in Tuscany, which started operating in 2013.
Snam said volumes of regasified gas at its Panigaglia LNG terminal in north-west Italy fell by 95.5% year on year to 50 million cu m, with just one tanker unloaded in 2013 against 31 in 2012.
It said that was mainly due to "global demand for LNG, which has risen sharply, particularly in the Far East", leading to lower deliveries to European countries including Italy.
Volumes of stored gas moved in 2013 increased by 17.9% year on year to 18.42 Bcm, mainly because of higher withdrawals from storage, which were up by 31.9% to 9.5 Bcm, it said.
Total storage capacity was 15.9 Bcm, of which 11.4 Bcm was made available to the system, an increase of 200 million cu m, while strategic storage was unchanged at 4.5 Bcm.
Snam, through its subsidiary Stogit, controls around 95% of total storage capacity in Italy, with Edison Stoccaggio holding the remaining 5%, accounting for about 700 million cu m.
