Italian Oil Major To Deal With Gazprom

Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA said on Thursday it has agreed to draw up a new, broader gas deal with Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, and ditched a previous pact that was criticized by antitrust regulators.

In the previous deal struck in May, Eni had allowed Gazprom to sell some 10% of its exports to Italy directly to consumers. In exchange for authorizing Gazprom to use its pipeline capacity, Eni had obtained a 10-year extension of its gas supply contracts with Gazprom.

Italian Antitrust regulators said the proposed deal failed to boost competition, while Eni's smaller rivals said Eni should have auctioned off its pipeline capacity instead of selling it to Gazprom in a private deal.

Eni said Thursday the May pact is outdated.
Under the terms of the new pact, Eni said it agreed with Gazprom to promote new deals related to oil and gas exploration in Russia, the sale of oil products outside Russia and of gas in Europe.

Eni said top managers of the two companies would meet by the end of October to discuss details of new cooperation.