ENI Fined for Liquidating Its Rivals

Italian energy major Eni has been penalized 290m euros ($345m) by the country's competition watchdog for blocking rivals in the gas market.

The problems are centred around the access to a pipeline running from North Africa that Eni has granted its rivals.

The company has been ordered to increase the capacity for third parties by an extra 6.5 billion cubic metres of gas a year.

The decision comes as Italy had to use emergency gas reserves amid a cold winter and declining Russian supplies.

Eni said it was considering whether to appeal the decision and pointed out that it had recently submitted pro-competition measures to the watchdog.