ROME, April 12. /TASS/. Introduction of a ban on Russian gas supplies would lead to an economic and energy tragedy, since it is impossible to find an alternative to it in a short time, Davide Tabarelli, president of the Italian analytical company Nomisma Energia, said in an interview with the Stampa newspaper published on Tuesday.
Earlier, Italy concluded an agreement with Algeria, to increase supplies from this North African country. The agreement was signed during a visit of an Italian delegation led by Prime Minister Mario Draghi to Algeria. Commenting on this deal, the expert said:
"With all due respect to the efforts of the government, [energy company] Eni, but this agreement only confirms that if an embargo on gas from the Russian Federation is introduced tomorrow, we will have to significantly reduce consumption. And this means not supplying gas to industry, schools, state institutions.".
Tabarelli noted that even with a lower temperature (of heating houses - TASS), no more than 1 billion cubic meters can be saved. "And we need to replace 29 billion cubic meters," he recalled.
The expert also noted the difficulties associated with environmental standards, switching to other "less environmentally friendly" energy sources such as coal and wood. According to him, obtaining obtain additional 9 billion cubic meters of gas from Algeria, which is provided by the agreement, will take three years.