Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

STATOIL

Eni wins revised gas supply deal from Statoil

ENI chief executive Paolo Scaroni on Friday hailed an initial deal with Norway's Statoil to revise gas supply contracts as "a big success", as the Italian energy major seeks to lower purchasing costs.

Published: 28 February 2014 11:36 CET
Eni wins revised gas supply deal from Statoil
Statoil's Statfjord B oil rig, which is now expected to begin producing natural gas. Photo: Statoil
"I feel calmer over the chances of keeping the promise made to the market of bringing all gas supply contracts to market prices by 2016," Scaroni was quoted by the Il Sole 24 Ore business daily as saying.
   
Arbitration proceedings initiated by ENI last year against Statoil over the gas contracts will now be suspended to allow the two sides to formulate a definitive agreement.
   
"The deal would save ENI 1.0 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in 2014," ENI said in a statement.
   
The Norwegian newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv last year reported that ENI was seeking $10 billion from Statoil for being sold natural gas at exorbitant prices.
   
The newspaper said the previous agreement had allowed Statoil to bill ENI for prices up to 50 percent higher than market prices.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

GENOA

Government divided over motorways contractor in wake of Genoa tragedy

A dispute over how the Italian government should handle its relationship with motorways operator Autostrade per l’Italia, the private company responsible for managing the collapsed Morandi Bridge viaduct in Genoa as well as most of Italy’s motorway system, is dividing the country’s leaders.

Published: 17 August 2018 12:00 CEST
Government divided over motorways contractor in wake of Genoa tragedy
Matteo Salvini answers journalists as he visits the Morandi motorway bridge site one day after a section collapsed in Genoa on August 15, 2018. Photo: Andrea Leoni/AFP

Italy’s interior minister and co-deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, who is also head of the far-right League party, said Thursday he was ready to open a dialogue with the company, reports La Repubblica.

But his Five Star Movement counterpart, co-deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio, has doubled down on his position that the government must revoke its contract with the motorways operator as soon as possible, creating tension within the cabinet.

“Anyone who doesn’t want this will have to go over my dead body,” Di Maio told the TV channel La7 Thursday evening.

Luigi Di Maio on LA7

READ ALSO: Atlantia, Italy's motorway operator with global ambitions under scrutiny

The viaduct collapsed shortly before noon on Tuesday during a storm, bringing down with it a section of the A10 freeway along with 35 cars and several trucks.

38 have been confirmed dead in the disaster, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Thursday, while Genoa's chief prosecutor has said that between 10 and 20 people are still missing.

The exact cause of the collapse is still unknown, but some bystanders said they saw lightning hit one of the support columns before it went down. The Morandi Bridge has been plagued with structural problems since it was first constructed in the 1960s.

At a press conference Wednesday Salvini, Di Maio, infrastructure and transport minister Danilo Toninelli, and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte all said they would immediately revoke the government’s contract with Autostrade and fine the company 150 million euros.

But on Thursday it became clear that prematurely revoking the contract, which is not due to expire until 2042, will incur a penalty of between 15 and 20 billion euros unless the government can demonstrate that Autostrade was at fault.

The concessionaire, whose parent company Atlantia's share value plunged 22.26 percent yesterday, insisted it had met all its obligations in maintaining the structure.

READ ALSO: Revoking motorway contract 'could cost government billions'

Salvini has called on Autostrade to pay 500 million euros in compensation to the victims of the collapse and said his priority now is “to immediately obtain funds and interventions to support the relatives of the victims, the wounded, the 600 displaced and the whole community of Genoa.”

“We'll talk about the concession later,” he added.

Toninelli also appeared to have toned down the force of his rhetoric, writing in a Facebook post Thursday that the Ministry of Transport had commissioned an independent investigation into the collapse which will be concluded within one month and could lead to the “potential” revocation of Autostrade's contact.

The Transport Ministry said in a statement published to its website yesterday that it will issue a formal request to all of Italy's road, highway, and dam operators to provide the ministry with risk assessments for each of the structures by September 1.

READ ALSO: Search for survivors goes on as anger mounts over Italy bridge collapse