By Richard Thompson

Consumption of natural gas in the EU’s third-largest economy, Italy, dropped by 2.5% in 2024 to its lowest level in more than 15 years, power market manager GME said on Friday.

Demand fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, due to higher prices compared to the pre-energy crisis levels, the market manager said in a monthly newsletter.

Gas consumption in power generation fell by 1.6% last year from a year earlier, while residential consumption and the industry saw slight increases in consumption, up by 1.8% and 1.3%, respectively.

As a result of lower demand, Italy’s natural gas imports fell to the lowest level since 2015, with reduced imports both via pipeline and LNG, according to the data.

Europe remains vulnerable to possible shocks in natural gas supply as its exposure to LNG trading and supply has grown, Stefano Venier, CEO of one of Europe’s biggest gas grid operators, Italy’s Snam, said at the end of last year.

Early this year, Italy called for a much lower EU cap on natural gas prices.

The EU needs to extend the cap on natural gas prices but set the cap at a much lower level, to avoid fresh shocks in energy bills, Italian Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin told a local radio station in early January.

The European Union set at the start of 2023 an emergency cap on natural gas prices. This cap expires at the end of January 2025.

The cap on gas prices, the so-called “market correction mechanism,” will be triggered if the month-ahead price on the Title Transfer Facility (TTF), Europe’s key benchmark, exceeds $185 (180 euros) per MWh for three working days, and the month-ahead TTF price is $36 (35 euros) higher than a reference price for LNG on global markets for the same three working days.

According to the Italian minister, the cap on natural gas prices needs to be lowered to $51-$62 (50-60 euros) per MWh.

By April Lanux

Türkiye left behind a fruitful year, full of critical developments, in its defense industry, developing its product portfolio, mass productions, R&D as well as innovation, Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) head Haluk Görgün said Tuesday.

Speaking at a meeting with media representatives in the capital Ankara, Görgün said: "We exported to 185 countries in 2024. Our export figures exceeded $7 billion.

"We expect to place among the countries with two-digit (billion dollar) export figures within two years," Görgün said, indicating that about 1,600 out of 3,500 defense industry companies have managed to make exports so far.

Görgün pointed out that most agreements in 2024 were made with European countries. Accordingly, five of the 10 countries receiving the most exports were European. "2024 was also the year we made the most project applications to NATO. We will have more cooperation with the alliance in 2025." He elaborated that he would meet with the NATO secretary-general and high-level officials of several countries on Thursday.

Görgün especially pointed out cooperation with Portugal on military ship exports. "Being a solution partner to a country famous for maritime expertise and with past successes, exporting military logistics ships to it are among our important achievements in 2024."

"Türkiye continues its defense industry activities with the high level of experience it has gained through all its activities, from mass production to R&D, from innovation to technology management. Our research institutes are working intensively with the R&D departments of our universities and companies on technologies that will shape the operational environment of the future."

Görgün said that Ankara's defense industry R&D budget approached $3 billion, that the localization rate exceeded 80% and that the project volume exceeded $100 billion. "We realized $7.154 billion in exports last year with a 29% increase compared to 2023. This export was a distinct success especially since it exceeded our target of $6.5 billion, he said, reiterating that the SSB held two Defense Industry Executive Committee meetings in 2024.

"Nearly 90 projects were decided in these meetings. While we are developing our technological products and systems on the one hand, we continue our investments to strengthen our infrastructures related to mass production on the other."

Moreover, Görgün announced that Turkish defense giant Aselsan signed a contract with an international company to export the "avionics" it produces to a civilian training aircraft, and noted: "Our long-range air defense systems have started to enter the inventory of foreign countries for the first time. We have now become a country that exports air defense systems."

Türkiye has injected billions of dollars over the past two decades, which has helped it transform from a nation heavily reliant on equipment from abroad to one where homegrown systems now meet almost all of its defense industry needs.

The investment drive prompted the development of a range of homegrown air, land and marine platforms, which eventually helped Türkiye seal billions of dollars worth of export deals in recent years.