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
| 08 Sep 26 |
Italy: GreenIT starts production at two solar plants in Italy, marking a new milestone in its growth journey GreenIT, the joint venture owned by Plenitude (51%) and CDP Equity (49%), has announced the start of production at two solar parks developed, constructed and commissioned by the company in Italy and located in the Piedmont region, in the provinces of Vercelli and Alessandria. |
| 08 Sep 26 |
Italy: Vestas announces two new orders in Italy for a total of 105 MW Vestas has announced two new orders in Italy for a total of 105 MW as part of its Q3 order intake. |
| 07 Sep 26 |
Prospex announces operational update - EIA for Selva Malvezzi four-well programme declared admissible by MASE Operational Prospex Energy, the AIM-quoted investment company focused on European gas and power projects, provides an operational update which demonstrates strong progress being made across all of the Company's operations in line with management expectations supported by a highly favourable macro-economic background for energy pricing in Europe. |
| 24 Aug 26 |
Italy: Vestas announces a new 65 MW order in Italy Vestas has announced a new 65 MW order in Italy as part of its Q3 order intake. The 65 MW order includes includes V162-6.5 MW turbines and a 25-year AOM 5000 Service Agreement. Delivery and commissioning is planned for second half of 2027. |
| 12 Aug 26 |
Italy: European Energy secures EUR 234m financing for 225 MW agri-pv project in Italy Project financing supports the construction of one of Italy’s largest and most advanced agrivoltaic developments, further expanding European Energy’s renewable energy assets’ portfolio in the country. The transaction is among the first financings of an agrivoltaic project of this scale and complexity in Italy. |
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
