Italy is now the second biggest buyer of Russian gas in Europe — overtaking Turkey — the head of Gazprom said Wednesday. CEO Alexei Miller said Italian demand for Russian gas continued to rise and was up 5.3% so far in 2016 compared with the same period of last year. But although volumes to Italy so far this year are up on 2015, the growth has slowed in the second quarter compared with the first. In addition, Turkish purchases are considerably down this year compared with 2015. “In 2016, Italian consumers have increased their demand for gas from Russia,” Miller said in a short statement. “Italy is now ahead of one of our biggest consumers — Turkey — in terms of the Russian gas volumes purchased in 2016. Currently it is the second biggest consumer of Russian gas among all importing countries,” he said. Germany is the biggest buyer […]