Europe / Caspian / CIS
Country profile: Italy
| Location: | Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia |
| Climate: | predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in south |
| Terrain: | mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands |
| Size: | 301230 sq. km total (Land area: 294020 sq. km Water area: 7210 sq.km) |
| Population: | 58,145,321 (July 2008 est.) |
| Languages: | Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area) |
| Government: | republic |
| Capital city: | Rome |
| Legal system: | based on civil law system; appeals treated as new trials; judicial review under certain conditions in Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Currency: | euro (EUR) |
| Licensing: |
Country profile
With limited domestic energy sources, Italy is highly dependent on imports to meet its consumption needs. In absolute terms, oil consumption has remained relatively static since 1970, but oil's share of Italy’s primary energy mix has decreased significantly, steadily replaced by natural gas. A pressing issue affecting Italy has been the country's electricity supply. Over the past decade, Italy’s installed electricity generation has not been able to keep up with demand, resulting in an increased share of electricity imports as a percent of total consumption.
Oil is the largest source of Italy’s energy consumption, representing 47 percent of primary energy consumption in 2004. Natural gas is the second-largest with 35 percent of primary energy consumption, followed by minor contributions from coal (8 percent), hydroelectricity (5 percent), and other renewables (2 percent). Unlike many other OECD countries, Italy still relies upon oil for a sizable portion of electricity generation: preliminary International Energy Agency (IEA) data for 2005 shows that Italy relied upon oil for 16 percent of its electricity generation, versus 5 percent for the OECD as a whole.
Energy production and consumption
| Oil | Gas | |
| Production: | 164,800 bbl/day (2005 est.) | 11 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
| Consumption: | 1 million bbl/day (2005 est.) | 82 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
| Exports: | 521,400 bbl/day (2004 est.) | 379 million cu m (2005 est.) |
| Imports: | 2 million bbl/day (2004 est.) | 70 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
| Reserves: | 621 million bbl/day (2006 est.) | 217 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
| Major fields: |
Italy - recent news
| 31 Oct 25 |
Italy: Prospex Energy provides Selva Malvezzi Production Concession Q3 2025 Activity Report Prospex Energy, the AIM quoted investment company focused on European gas and power projects, has provided an update from the Selva Malvezzi production concession in Italy following the publication by Po Valley Energy of its Q3-2025 activity report. |
| 23 Oct 25 |
Italy: RWE starts construction of 92 megawatts of onshore wind capacity in Italy RWE has begun construction of two major wind farms in Italy. The 47 MW Serra Palino wind farm is located in the province of Foggia, in the Apulia region and will consist of eight 5.9 MW turbines. For the 45 MW Venusia wind farm, located in the province of Potenza in the Basilicata region, RWE will install eight 5.6 MW turbines. |
| 20 Oct 25 |
Italy: Zenith Energy achieves 98.5 MWp in solar development projects Zenith Energy has announced that is fully owned Italian solar energy subsidiary, WESOLAR, has signed two separate agreements to acquire two solar energy development projects with a combined capacity of 22 MWp. |
| 12 Oct 25 |
Italy: Final turbine installed at SSE's 17.3MW onshore wind farm construction project in Puglia, Southern Italy Just six months after construction began, SSE is marking the installation of the final turbine at its 17.3MW onshore wind farm construction project in Puglia, Southern Italy. |
| 10 Oct 25 |
Italy: Reabold Resources announces further investment into LNEnergy Reabold Resources, the investing company focussed on developing strategic gas projects for European energy security, has announced that, through participation in a rights issue, it has increased its interest in LNEnergy by a further 1.2%. |
Italy - more news
Other countries in this region
- Afghanistan,
- Albania,
- Armenia,
- Austria,
- Azerbaijan,
- Belarus,
- Belgium,
- Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- Bulgaria,
- Croatia,
- Cyprus,
- Czech Republic,
- Denmark,
- Estonia,
- Faroe Islands,
- Finland,
- France,
- Georgia,
- Germany,
- Greece,
- Greenland,
- Hungary,
- Iceland,
- Ireland,
- Kazakhstan,
- Kyrgyzstan,
- Latvia,
- Lithuania,
- Luxembourg,
- Malta,
- Moldova,
- Montenegro,
- Netherlands,
- Norway,
- Poland,
- Portugal,
- Romania,
- Russia,
- Serbia,
- Slovakia,
- Slovenia,
- Spain,
- Sweden,
- Switzerland,
- Tajikistan,
- Tatarstan,
- Turkey,
- Turkmenistan,
- Ukraine,
- United Kingdom,
- Uzbekistan
