ROME – Italy has launched an urgent diplomatic and commercial offensive to secure African energy supplies after a dramatic escalation in Middle Eastern tensions forced QatarEnergy to declare force majeure on key shipments. The disruption, which has sidelined five major liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes destined for the Italian utility Edison in early April, has exposed the fragility of European supply chains following recent missile strikes on Qatari industrial hubs and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Italian government is now prioritizing the “African Corridor” to bridge the shortfall, eyeing increased pipeline throughput from Libya and Algeria alongside LNG shipments from Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin. Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin confirmed that while the nation’s “quantitative safety” is currently stable, officials are aggressively pursuing alternatives to replace the Qatari volumes, which traditionally account for nearly 10% of Italy’s annual gas consumption.
“Where possible, deteriorated steel should be removed and hot-dip galvanised—if this is not achievable, zinc metal spray or high-quality zinc-rich paints can be applied,” noted the IZA’s director, Simon Norton, in a separate recent industry report highlighting the infrastructure needs accompanying such energy transitions. Within the gas sector, Minister Pichetto Fratin was equally direct about the shifting strategy: “Pipeline gas from Libya is another option, although technical conditions must be created. Additional flows could come from Mozambique or Algeria, and from Azerbaijan through the TAP pipeline.”
The pivot comes as a fiscal boon for African exporters like Nigeria, Angola, and Ghana, who are benefiting from a surge in global benchmarks, with Brent crude recently climbing above $92 a barrel. For Libya, the crisis offers a strategic opening to revitalize its Greenstream pipeline, which connects the Mellitah terminal directly to Sicily. Although the infrastructure requires technical optimization to reach full capacity, recent agreements with global majors such as Eni and TotalEnergies suggest a renewed confidence in North Africa’s ability to act as Europe’s primary energy stabilizer.
Further south, Mozambique’s Coral South floating LNG platform is being positioned as a critical alternative for Mediterranean buyers. Despite planned maintenance scheduled for later this year, the project remains one of the few operational bright spots in the region’s hydrocarbon sector. Italian energy policymakers are betting that a combination of these sub-Saharan LNG flows and reinforced North African pipeline volumes will provide the necessary buffer to navigate a prolonged Gulf crisis.
The broader implications for the continent are significant, as European capital begins to flow toward “structuring projects” that had previously faced delays. As Italy leads the charge in diversifying away from Middle Eastern volatility, the African continent is increasingly moving from the periphery to the center of the global energy security map, potentially reshaping trade balances and investment flows for the remainder of the decade.
