8 Inventories

Inventories of €202 million (€235 million at 31 December 2011) are analysed in the table below:

Inventories of raw materials, consumables and supplies (€141 million) primarily include: (i) natural gas used for transportation activities (€75 million); (ii) stock materials relating to the pipeline network (€40 million), the distribution network (€15 million) and storage plants (€8 million).

The inventories of finished products and merchandise (€61 million) refer to the natural gas present in the storage system (759 million standard cubic metres compared with 585 million standard cubic metres at 31 December 2011) and do not include compulsory inventories¹³, recognised under “Non-current assets” on the balance sheet.

The change in the year (-€33 million) refers mainly to the transportation segment (-€41 million) and is attributable to the balance between withdrawals of gas from storage and gas contributions in kind from users of the service.

Inventories are stated net of the provision for impairment losses of €6 million (unchanged from 31 December 2011), set up to account for slow-moving materials.

Following the Decree issued by the Ministry of Economic Development on 29 March 2012, which set strategic storage for the 2012-2013 thermal year at 4.6 billion cubic metres¹⁴ (5.1 billion cubic metres in 2011-2012), 0.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas, with a value of €42 million, were reclassified in 2012 from “Compulsory inventories”.

Inventories are not collateralised. Inventories do not secure liabilities, nor are they recognised at net realisation value.