Italy’s Eni ENI.MI will receive only half of the gas supply volumes it had requested from Russia’s Gazprom GAZP.MM on Friday after experiencing a shortfall in the two previous days, the company said.

“Against a daily gas demand by Eni of around 63 million cubic meters, Gazprom announced that it will only supply 50% of what was requested, with actual quantities delivered almost unchanged from yesterday,” the energy giant said on its website.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that reductions in supply were not premeditated and were related to maintenance issues, but Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi dismissed his explanation.

“Both Germany and us, and others, believe these are lies. In reality they are making a political use of gas like they are using grain for political use,” Draghi told a news conference during a visit to Kyiv with his German and French counterparts.

Russian gas supply to Europe overall via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline fell further on Thursday and Moscow said more delays in repairs could lead to suspending all flows, putting a brake on Europe’s race to refill its gas inventories.

Italy aims to have the country’s gas storage system filled to at least 90% of capacity in time for next winter. Storage stands at 54% of capacity as of Thursday.

Italy has been reducing its reliance on gas supplies from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in February.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Maria Pia Quaglia and Keith Weir Editing by Mark Potter)