Refinery blockade and shortages
Eni said on Thursday, 15 October that protests at its Taranto refinery, which began on 12 October, have blocked goods flowing in and out of the site. The company attributes the blockade of the refinery gates to workers from the former Ilva steelworks. It said more than 150 of roughly 300 Enilive service stations are without fuel and that a fuel shortage has been declared at the airports of Bari and Brindisi. The Taranto plant normally moves around 260 tanker trucks a day, and Eni warned that a shortage of technical gases could force a shutdown of plant units, though the refinery was running normally at the time of its statement.
Truckers and local impact
Conftrasporto president Pasquale Russo said the government must urgently convene the transport associations or face a national stop. He said protests were spreading spontaneously, with hauliers in southern Italy organising roadblocks, and he cited an increase of more than 50 cents per litre since the start of the war. Russo added that funds set aside for fuel costs have not yet arrived.
We are asking the government to urgently convene a meeting with the industry associations; otherwise, we will consider a nationwide strike.
In Calabria, Eni stations in Lamezia Terme have closed after running out of stock, and the Fedralog haulage federation has announced a four-day sector blockade starting on Friday, 16 October. A presidio organised by the Movimento Territorio e Agricoltura will also gather near the Lamezia Terme airport roundabout on Friday. In Basilicata, queues have formed at stations in Potenza and other municipalities, police were directing traffic in Matera, and some supermarkets have begun to show empty shelves. Enzo Amendola, a Democratic Party deputy, accused the government of underestimating the protests, and Piero Lacorazza, the party's leader in the Basilicata regional council, called for immediate responses, including the party's proposals on mobile excise duties and a tax on energy company windfall profits.