The European Union should extend its emergency cap on gas prices and set a cap of 60 euros per megawatt hour to prevent a possible energy price shock, Italian Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto said on Friday Fratin.
Fears of an energy shock rose after Ukraine refused to renew a gas transit deal with Russia, marking the end of decades of Moscow's dominance of European energy markets.
The EU's gas price cap expires at the end of the month and only applies if European gas prices exceed 180 euros per megawatt hour, a level that has not been reached since the early days of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“I think the EU should at this stage renew the price cap, but not at 180 euros, it should be set at 50 or 60 euros,” the Italian minister said in a radio interview.
The benchmark short-term contract at the Dutch TTF center was up 0.09 euros at 49.85 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) at 1108 GMT, according to LSEG data.
Mr Fratin said Italy had enough gas reserves to get through the next two months without disruption.
“I reassure everyone, we have no problem. The country's gas storage system is filled to almost 80%” of its capacity, he said.
