Claudio Descalzi met with many people in April, including President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi in Cairo, Bruno Itoua, the Congolese Minister of hydrocarbons, in Brazzaville, and Toufik Hakkar, the CEO of Sonatrach, in Algiers. As a matter of fact, ENI’s chairman and CEO have signed many contracts, always under the watchful eye of either Italy’s prime minister Mario Draghi, or Luigi Di Maio, the foreign affairs minister.
The 30%-state-owned Italian oil and gas company has assumed its role as an agent of the country’s energy sovereignty, at a time when Russian gas is expected to come to an end. Before the Ukraine offensive, Russian gas represented 45% of Rome’s gas imports.
“The current situation means that ENI must contribute to meeting Italian and European gas needs,” says Francis Perrin, director of research at IRIS. “Relations with African countries have taken a particular turn in the
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