By Francesca Landini
RAVENNA, Italy (Reuters) -Italy's Snam is confident that two multi-billion-euro energy projects it is sponsoring on hydrogen and carbon capture will win backing from the European Commission, its chief executive said.
The two initiatives -- a pipeline to bring hydrogen from southern Italy to Austria and Germany and a French-Italian plan to liquefy, transport and store carbon dioxide -- are expected to qualify as EU Projects of Common Interest (PCI), Stefano Venier told a news conference.
Brussels is expected to publish its updated list of PCI projects later this year.
The PCI status unlocks a fast-track permits process and can open access to certain EU funds.
"We have recently had a meeting with (EU) Commission officials and we are confident that the two projects can get the PCI status by the end of this year," Venier said on Tuesday at an event for the future liquefied natural gas terminal in the Italian city of Ravenna.
Italy is in preliminary talks with Bavaria's government to supply gas and hydrogen to the southern German state. It also aims to sell energy to Austria and Hungary, Italian and German industry and political sources told Reuters in September.
To supply green hydrogen potentially coming from North Africa, Snam and fellow transport system operators Trans Austria Gasleitung (TAG), Gas Connect Austria (GCA) and Germany's bayernets plan to build a 3,300 km (2,050 miles) pipeline connecting Italy to northern Europe.
The project is set to utilize more than 70% re-purposed infrastructure.
In its business plan, Snam said it would spend 4 billion euros on hydrogen initiatives.
The second project, dubbed CALLISTO, envisages a network to bring carbon dioxide from high-emission companies in France to a carbon storage site that Snam and energy group Eni are set to build next year in the Adriatic Sea.