Al-Monitor reports how Italy’s ENI is expanding into North Africa also in response of the war in Ukraine:
“Italy’s Eni has moved quickly to capitalize on North Africa’s untapped potential. Counting on its longstanding presence in the region, Eni has signed recent deals with both Algeria and Egypt to maximize production and increase exports.
“Eni is quite well placed, I would say even perhaps uniquely placed in its portfolio, simply because of its large presence in Algeria, its large presence in Egypt, where it’s the largest oil and gas producer, and it also has both gas pipeline options from Algeria and LNG options from Egypt,” Noah Brenner, executive editor at Energy Intelligence, told Al-Monitor. “There is no other company within the region that has the variety of opportunities that [Eni] has to bring gas directly to Italy and Europe.”
Brenner, who also focuses on Eni’s corporate strategy, went on, “And the other thing that’s interesting about Eni is that we have seen a greater level of coordination with the government and a greater willingness on the part of Eni to really say, ‘We are really going to go out and secure gas for Europe.’” He noted, “What will be interesting to see is [whether Eni] can translate the opportunities it has to bring gas to Europe into actual volumes.””
Reuters quotes Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi:
“We rapidly reacted to the ongoing challenges of the energy market…to find alternative and additional supply opportunities for Europe. (…) The first quarter marked “clear progress in executing our strategy of delivering security and sustainability of the energy system”.”