Italy fully supports EU efforts to stop Russian gas imports by 2027

ROME (Reuters) -Italy fully supports European Union efforts to stop Russian gas imports into the bloc by 2027, the country's energy minister told reporters on Thursday, adding any decisions by Rome to boost LNG imports from the U.S. were up to private buyers.

Italy last year imported a small quantity of Russian gas which was mainly exported to Austria, the minister said, adding that the country was now independent from supplies coming from Moscow.

"Italy fully supports the effort," Pichetto Fratin told a news conference in Rome, speaking alongside Teresa Ribera, the European Union's competition commissioner.

The EU said this month it would propose legal measures to phase out imports of Russian gas and LNG by the end of 2027, ending a decades-old energy relationship which crumbled after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

During a visit to Washington in April, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni discussed with U.S. President Donald Trump a potential increase in Italian imports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. Pichetto said any such purchase should be based on competitive prices.

"The fact that we have increased regasification capacity means that there is room to buy more LNG if it is competitive compared with (gas arriving via) pipeline," Pichetto said.

He added, however, that U.S. LNG was currently being offered at high prices when it reaches Europe.

"How is it possible that American gas leaves the shores of Florida at $10-12 per megawatt hour (MWh)," he said. " .... (and) it arrives on the shores of Portugal at $36 per MWh? This is part of bargaining between private operators and not between states".

(Reporting by Angelo Amante and Francesca Landini; editing by Ed Osmond)