BMI View: Europe has taken the suspension of Libyan gas supplies in its stride, reflecting the localised nature of the disruption. The damage to Libya's gas prospects, however, could be significant. In contrast to the tumult that events in Libya have led to in the oil market, natural gas prices in Europe - Libya's sole gas export market - remain largely unaffected, highlighting the localised nature of the gas disruption and Europe's diverse gas sources. On February 22 2011, Italy's Eni announced that gas flows through the 540km undersea Greenstream pipeline had been suspended. Greenstream - Libya's sole gas export pipeline - supplies gas to the Italian market. Prior to the disruption, about 25.8mn cubic metres per day (Mcm/d) of gas was flowing through Greenstream, according to Snam Rete Gas , Italy's gas grid operator. This is equivalent to annual imports of 9.4bn cubic metres (bcm), or 11% of Italy's 2010 gas imports. Muammar Mia! In spite of the suspension of Libyan gas flows, Italy's government has reacted calmly. The country's industry minister, Paolo Romani, claimed on February 23 that Italy '[has] no gas problem', following a meeting in Rome of the country's gas-monitoring committee. Romani pointed to Italy's commercial ...

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