Due to the last days extreme cold in Russia, Italy's main supplier of natural gas, the Russians have supposedly been forced to supply more to domestic needs and hold back on Italy's share. The boss of Italian oil and gas firm Eni, Paolo Scaroni, has said that Italy might have power problems in February and March if the cold weather continues and Russia did not provide enough gas.

Although the Russian supplier Gazprom claims they're still fullfilling all their obligations to the European market, the Italians are worried. Not just because they don't have much gas reserves to heat the homes and stoves, but also if there will be enough gas to run the Olympic cauldron. Now Italgas even has come with an official statement to deny any future problems during the Olympics to calm down anxious Italians.

Also some environmental organizations have suggested that the cauldron should be switched off in order save some of the precious methane gas for other and more important purposes. The 4 metre high flame requires 8000 cubic metres of gas per hour with a total of 2.8 m of natural gas to be consumed during the Torino Games.