The Italian government has rapidly finalised its latest deals to secure fresh gas supplies from Africa, a move that is intended to help replace gas currently piped from Russia.
Earlier this month, the Rome-based authorities, working closely with Italian major Eni, clinched deals to raise gas imports from both Algeria and Egypt, but these latest deals are in sub-Saharan Africa.
One agreement cover gas supplies from Congo-Brazzaville where Eni has a significant presence, while another deal relates to Angola, another sub-Saharan nation that counts as a heartland for the Italian player.
Other African nations where Eni holds important upstream portfolios on the back of which the Italian authorities could potentially sign gas-related deals - if the circumstances are right - include Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Libya.
In Brazzaville on 21st April, Eni's chief executive Claudio Descalzi signed a letter of intent to increase gas production and export, after which a meeting was held with President Denis Sassou Nguesso.
This agreement was signed in the presence of Congo's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Claude Gakosso and his Italian counterpart Luigi di Maio, as well as Italy's Minister for Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani and the Congolese Minister of Hydrocarbons Bruno Jean Richard Itoua.