9. Inventories
Inventories, which amount to €515 million (€518 million at 31 December 2014) are analysed in the table below:
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|
31.12.2014 |
31.12.2015 |
||||
(€ million) |
Gross amount |
Impairment losses |
Net value |
Gross amount |
Impairment losses |
Net value |
Inventories (current assets) |
191 |
(36) |
155 |
191 |
(39) |
152 |
- Raw materials, consumables and supplies |
131 |
(6) |
125 |
141 |
(7) |
134 |
- Finished products and merchandise |
60 |
(30) |
30 |
50 |
(32) |
18 |
Compulsory inventories (non-current assets) |
363 |
|
363 |
363 |
|
363 |
|
554 |
(36) |
518 |
554 |
(39) |
515 |
Inventories (current assets)
Inventories of raw materials, consumables and supplies (€134 million, compared with €125 million at 31 December 2014) primarily include: (i) natural gas used for transportation activities (€55 million); and (ii) stock materials relating to the pipeline network (€43 million), the distribution network (€18 million) and storage plants (€12 million).
Inventories of finished products and merchandise (€18 million, compared with €30 million at 31 December 2014) refer to the natural gas present in the storage system (617 million standard cubic metres, compared with 739 million standard cubic metres at 31 December 2014) and do not include compulsory inventories, recognised under “Non-current assets” in the balance sheet.
Inventories are reported net of the provision for impairment losses of €39 million (€36 million at 31 December 2014).
Changes in the provision for impairment losses during the year are shown below:
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(€ million) |
Provision for impairment losses at 31.12.2014 |
Provisions |
Utilisations |
Other |
Provision for impairment losses at 31.12.2015 |
Raw materials, consumables and supplies |
6 |
2 |
(1) |
|
7 |
Finished products and merchandise |
30 |
|
|
2 |
32 |
|
36 |
2 |
(1) |
2 |
39 |
Provisions (€2 million) related to spare parts involving to the transportation segment.
Inventories are not collateralised. Inventories do not secure liabilities, nor are they recognised at net realisation value.
Compulsory inventories (non-current assets)
Compulsory inventories (€363 million, unchanged from 31 December 2014) comprise minimum quantities of natural gas that the storage companies are obliged to hold pursuant to Presidential Decree 22 of 31 January 2001.
The quantities of natural gas in stock, equal to around 4.5 billion standard cubic metres, are determined annually by the Ministry of Economic Development15.
15 On 26 January 2015, the Ministry set the strategic storage volume at 4.62 billion cubic metres for the contractual storage year 2015-2016 (1 April 2015 – 31 March 2016), which is unchanged from the previous year 2014-2015 (1 April 2014 – 31 March 2015). The Stogit share was unchanged at 4.5 billion cubic metres. On 21 January 2016, the Ministry confirmed the total strategic storage volumes for the contractual year 2016-2017 (1 April 2016 – 31 March 2017) as 4.62 billion cubic metres.