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In the last decade, the Italian natural gas market has undergone profound changes. The slow ongoing process of liberalization that began in 2000 has produced many changes in the industry as companies have had to react to the new regulatory framework. Many companies have sought agreements, alliances and mergers to consolidate their position in the market, other companies have sought to diversify their product range by becoming multi-utility companies, others, unable to react to the new competitive pressures, have gone bankrupt. The aim of the work is to analyse the performance of natural gas retail companies after the liberalization of the sector.

The authors carry out a financial statement analysis for indexes in order to evaluate business management in terms of the financial, profitability and liquidity aspects. The authors analysed a sample of 111 companies operating in Italy for a six-year period (2004-2009) following the full liberalization of the sector (January 1, 2003).

Results show that many of the firms in the sample are suffering from a reduction in profits and present serious financial weaknesses. In particular, the companies that perform the worst are the small, new entrants and those in the south of Italy. In regard to the new entrants it should be noted that although more than ten years have passed since the beginning of the liberalization process, entry barriers are still present. As regards the business diversification, the best financial and operating results are achieved by large firms, listed companies and those which grew mainly through M&As.

Even though there are numerous theoretical and empirical studies on the effects of diversification strategies and M&As, very few researchers have analyzed these effects in the context of a liberalization process of an energy sector. Starting from this gap in the literature, the work aims to analyse the strategies implemented by the Italian companies in the natural gas retail segment.

The empirical findings will help the policy makers of Italy in understanding that more than ten years since the beginning of the natural gas market liberalization, entry barriers are still present. Although all consumers have been free to choose their supplier since 2003, the incumbent firms have maintained a dominant position in the market, thanks to a “weak” unbundling (often the incumbent retail operator belongs to the same group as the distribution network operator) and to the advantage in the supply phase by means of a long-term contract with a “take or pay” clause.

Italy has always been characterized by the centrality of natural gas in its energy basket and it is the third European country for annual consumption. Despite the importance of this energy source, no substantial work has been done in this regard with reference to Italy.

The purpose of this paper is to establish groups of stakeholders who win and lose from changes in natural gas prices and to develop practical recommendations for a state regulator for the optimal setting natural gas prices in the domestic market through an example of Ukraine.

In this study, to identify groups of stakeholders with gains and losses from the pricing of natural gas, the author used traditional methods of correlation and statistical regression analysis, including the ordinary least squares (OLS) method.

The main profit from natural gas remains in the extraction sector. The remaining profit is distributed among the various stakeholders. The consumers during rapidly rising gas prices have to rely on energy efficiency and switching to alternative, less costly resources. The existing system of unified natural gas price for all industrial consumers is inefficient and leads to the losses of the largest industrial sectors in Ukraine – metallurgy and chemical industry. With the help of the developed models, the author determined the critical levels of natural gas prices for these two industries.

The study is limited by data about activity of eight key manufacturing companies, four gas distribution companies, and main state gas companies from two country only.

Defined levels can be used by a state regulatory authority as a boundary, above which these industries will be unprofitable and their fate along with hundred thousands of workers will be questionable.

This is the first paper that set the critical levels of natural gas prices for two manufacturing industries in Ukraine.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the natural gas sector in Italy, with a specific focus on the regulatory framework, the development of infrastructures and the supply and demand balance.

The research has been developed by applying qualitative and quantitative methodologies. In particular, a review and a qualitative analysis have been proposed to analyze the regulatory framework and the development of infrastructure, whereas the consumption trend is quantitatively examined by means of the decomposition analysis.

This study highlights how the legislation is complete and in line with European Union (EU) prescriptions, and how the infrastructure is quite well-developed, even though many expected developments are on hold due to the current market conditions. The supply and demand balance highlights a decreasing trend of the consumption owing to the aggressive development of renewables and permanence of a weak economic growth. Finally, the decomposition analysis of total and sectorial natural gas demand has emphasized that the increase of energy intensity can be considered responsible for a large share of consumption between 1995 and 2014.

The paper details the status of the natural gas sector in Italy, which is one of the largest consumers of natural gas within the EU. Despite its importance, the Italian natural gas sector has not been subjected to extensive research, and this paper represents a first attempt to provide an overview of the sector.

The purpose of this paper is to explore loyalty and switching behavior among corporate energy customers in Italy. Thanks to the recent liberalization process, firms have now the opportunity to evaluate alternative energy providers and try to reduce their energy expenses. Nonetheless their switching rate in Italy is currently as low as 6.3 percent.

The study is based on a cross-sectional analysis of the switching behavior of a sample of 110 Italian small and medium firms that purchase natural gas from a middle-sized natural gas supplier.

The analysis emphasizes the role of price convenience (but not of dissatisfaction with the service provision) as a driver of the intention to switch to a new supplier. The negative impact of procedural and relational switching costs on the intention to switch emerges, as well.

The sample size was quite limited. Moreover participants were all customers of one natural gas supplier only.

The findings highlight the need for gas service providers to focus on customer orientation and loyalty to stimulate customer loyalty and not just customer repurchases.

Whilst a few studies have explored switching behavior and loyalty among private energy customers, this study investigates this issue among corporate energy customers.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine generated unprecedented panic in the European financial system. As expected, the European Union (EU) felt most of the negative effects of the war due to geographical proximity to Ukraine and energy dependence on Russia. This study aims to investigate the influence of Brent crude oil (BCO), Dutch Title Transfer Facility Natural Gas, and CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) on Deutscher Aktien Index (DAX), Austrian Traded Index (ATX) and Milano Indice di Borsa (FTSEMIB). The German, Austrian and Italian equity indexes were chosen due to the heavy dependence of these countries on Russian gas and oil.

The data cover the period from November 24, 2021, to June 24, 2022, including five months of the Russia–Ukraine war. To generate the intended results, vector autoregressive, structural vector autoregressive, vector error correction model, Johansen test and Granger causality test were used.

The results highlight that natural gas and the VIX carried negative effects on DAX, ATX and FTSEMIB. The BCO was expected to have influenced three selected equity indexes, while the results suggest that it was priced only in ATX.

This research provides modest evidence for the policymakers on the systemic risk that Russian gas has for the EU equity markets. From a managerial perspective, changes in oil and gas prices are a permanently integral part of portfolio risk analysis.

This chapter outlines the potential market of methane (especially LNG) as vehicle fuel in Europe and China.

A comprehensive report on the existing framework in terms of market capacity, regulations, and incentives is presented. Moreover, the feasibility of using biogas as environmental friendly source gas is considered.

The transport sector represents a major element in the global balance of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Natural gas is considered the alternative fuel that, in the short-medium term, can best substitute conventional fuels in order to reduce their environmental impact, because it is readily available at a competitive price, using technologies that are already in widespread use. It can be used as compressed gas (CNG) or in the liquid phase (LNG). The former is more suitable for light vehicles, while the latter for heavy-duty vehicles. Some barriers need to be overcome for the diffusion of this alternative fuel, especially concerning the supply problem. The incentive policy has been shown to cover a major influence in the feasibility evaluation.

This work shows the state of the art of natural gas as fuel, especially from biogas source, in Europe and China and assesses the incentive scheme necessary to make liquefied biomethane feasible on the basis of the existing scenario in Italy.

This paper aims to explore the international response to the discovery and development of gas fields in the East Mediterranean basin.

The study applies key concepts into a framework and explores the strategies used by nations for developing their influence in the region.

The key nation states (the USA and Russia) and the supranational EU are notable in their divergent approaches to obtaining access to and influence regarding the gas fields.

The development of the strategies used by the international rivals for access to the resources available from the offshore oil fields is set to be an area for further study.

This paper offers insight into a developing rivalry over energy security, which will a platform for further investigation throughout the exploitation of the “New Gulf” gas fields.

The purpose of this paper is to set out ideas regarding a systematic approach that defines the Italian National energy strategies, considering the standards imposed from European Union.

A conceptual framework to estimate a model to define the energy policies for different sectors in the Italian case is underlined. The aims of Italian energy strategy in the worldwide scenario are discussed. The authors have considered the relations between the environment and the human impact on the energy conversion process by means of a conceptual method.

The actions considered to reach the aims of energy policies objectives are highlighted. This research aims to inform future development in the topic area, considering future perspectives and socio-economical implications for Italy.

The paper will be of interest to firm managers, ecologists and policymakers with a particular interest in energy policies, considering socio-technical implications. The framework can be applied for facilitating discussions or for scenario planning.