Fuels. Here is FederPetroli’s recipe against price increases

While the price of oil falls back below 100 dollars a barrel, FederPetroli reiterates the need “for an energy restructuring” of the country “which has been missing for over 15 years”. A strategy that for Marseille would allow the use of all available forms of energy and not just fossil ones, making Italy less dependent on imports. “Each nation must have its own internal production capacity which would allow us to have our independence, saving consumers and without begging other states, like Algeria, the Prime Minister went to, for further supplies.” During the period of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, Algeria supplied over 80 billion cubic meters of gas, and the recent agreements with North Africa “give hope in this direction”. These investments “have allowed us to already have advanced production phases”. African development gives rise to hope, even if there remains an infrastructural gap to be filled. “There is a lack of gas pipelines – warns the president – to bring the material from Africa to Europe. Gas and oil abound all over the world. The problem is logistical and involves an increase in time and does not always allow it to be transported”.

The Strait of Hormuz remains off-limits for Italy even if, Marseille points out, “international maritime law has never closed it”. The canal “has always been open, some shipowners and some flags cannot pass. Iranian ships continue to transit towards China or other markets”. The raw material is starting to run out: “The refineries cannot deliver according to the normal schedule because neither crude oil nor refined products arrive”. The situation is also made worse by the fact that the country does not have a large refining capacity: “Venice is a biorefinery and therefore crude oil cannot be refined. Livorno is blocked because they are converting it”. Marseille supports the opening to Russian oil: “Buying Russian crude oil and gas today would immediately reduce the energy bills of Italian families – he states -. As Federpetroli we are already partners with the Russians in other locations such as Mozambique, Libya and Congo. It is only European legislation that has imposed the sanctions”.

The federation has asked for a cap on the price of fuel and the separation of VAT from excise duties. “We are not asking for a very strong maneuver, but to be able to intervene on what is taxation”. “We have an industrial cost of fuel that does not reach 70 euro cents – explains Marseille -. Out of two euros of petrol, 70 cents are profit from the oil industry, the rest are excise duties and VAT”. Even having asked for it, the president underlines how the cut implemented by the decree already represents the maximum gap. Despite the measure, “from March 18 to today, petrol and diesel prices have increased by over 17 cents”. The demolition took place, but the state intervention “was barely felt”. “Any state aid, even just one cent, is a positive thing – concludes Marseille -, but a country cannot overturn its internal economic policy from one moment to the next. These are highly critical situations because no one can predict them”.