Natural gas demand in Italy posted a strong year on year increase in September, rising by 13% to 4.6 million cubic meters. That was mostly due to a sharp rise in demand for power generation, which was up by 21.1% year on year at 2.2 million cubic meters, Italian gas and power exchange operator, Gestore Mercati Energetici said.
Demand for domestic consumption was also up by 6.1% standing at 1.15 million cubic meters, while industrial gas demand rose 3.7% to 1.1 million cubic meters.
Exports also moved up on a yearly basis by 32.5% at 192 million cubic meters.
On the supply side, national production fell 5.3% to 490 million cubic meters, while imports recovered, rising by 10% to 5.4 million cubic meters.
A strong rebound in Algerian gas imports through the Mazara del Vallo entry point was seen, as they were up 111.3% to 1 million cubic meters.
Imports from Northern Europe into Passo Gries also rose 43.9% to 1 million cubic meters.
However, Libyan gas imports fell 39.6% to 36 million cubic meters. Similarly, Russian imports through Tarvisio were down 12.9% to 2.3 million cubic meters. Despite the decrease, Russia remained the main supplier of imported gas into Italy in September.
Meanwhile, Qatari LNG imports at the Cavarzere terminal increased by 47.1% at 599 million cubic meters.
Some 1.3 million cubic meters were injected into storage in September, down by 5.5% compared to September 2015.
On the last day of September, Italian gas storage levels accounted for 12.3 million cubic meters, up by 8.5% year on year showing healthy reserves are in place at the start of the winter season.
The average prices on the Punto di Scambio Virtuale (PSV) gas hub were down 34.4% year on year at Eur14.12/MWh.