ENI has announced the completion of the financial process for the acquisition of BP’s activities in Algeria.
The operation aims to further satisfy Europe’s gas needs and strengthen ENI’s presence in Algeria.
This acquisition has strong strategic value and further contributes to meeting Europe’s gas needs, as well as strengthening ENI’s presence in Algeria.

Mauritania has signed a new agreement with energy company Shell for oil exploration at sea, alongside preparations for the actual production phase of gas in existing projects, a contract for exploration and production in the coastal basin in Mauritanian territorial waters.
Under this contract, Shell commits to conducting seismic surveys, carrying out exploration operations during the first phase of the contract, and carrying out production operations during the third phase, if the results are confirmed.

The Mattei Plan aims to make Italy an energy hub for the entire Mediterranean and includes 7 regasification plants and 5 gas pipelines.
At the heart of the agreement is an increase in transportation capacity, with the goal of exploiting the energy connection between Algeria and Italy and making the existing gas profitable. However, to succeed in this endeavor, a new hydrogen pipeline will be needed, as well as the laying of a submarine cable and an increase in gas production.
With the implementation of the Mattei Plan, approximately 140 billion cubic meters of gas are expected to pass through the country, but it will still take at least 5 years for the project to be fully realized.

Eni and Saipem have signed a memorandum of understanding for the use of bio-based fuels, rather than synthetic fuels, on Saipem’s drilling and construction vessels, with a particular focus on operations in the Mediterranean Sea.
Biofuels are one of the pillars of Eni’s strategic plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, through a path of decarbonization that aims to reduce the carbon emissions of industrial processes and products. For Saipem, the agreement is part of its strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Through the use of biofuels, Eni and Saipem anticipate a reduction of 550,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Croatia will participate in a project to connect its natural gas network with that of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The announcement is part of the Southern Gas Interconnection, a proposed project to construct a 180-kilometer transborder gas pipeline that should help reduce Bosnia’s total dependence on Russian gas.
The only transborder connection of Bosnia is an extension of the TurkStream gas pipeline operated by Gazprom (a Russian company that deals with the extraction and sale of natural gas), which brings Russian gas through Turkey.
The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2025 and will have a planned capacity of five billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.

After the European Union minimized its gas demands from Russia, the Russian company Gazprom aims to become China’s main gas supplier.
Gazprom is starting to consider new significant pipeline construction projects in the near future because, according to Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, the Asian market is currently the most dynamic in the world, and consumption volumes are increasing.
Since 2019, the company has been supplying gas to Chinese consumers through the Power of Siberia pipeline, and in February 2022, a second long-term gas sales contract was signed.

Chevron is trying to finalize a deal with Algeria for energy exploration.
Despite US companies reducing their activities in the Middle East and Africa, choosing to focus on exploiting oil and gas reserves in the United States, the oil company has recently started talks to invest in Algeria. The North African country is committed to trying to replace Russia as the supplier of gas to neighboring Europe, as it has greater gas resources than the United States.
The search for new natural gas resources in Africa and the Middle East has become a priority for Chevron, which is also dealing with new discoveries in Egypt and Israel, to replace Russian gas in Europe.

With the two regasification plants in Piombino and Ravenna, which will be installed by this summer, Italy will be able to free itself from energy dependence on Russia by the end of 2023. Starting from next year, we will be able to supply other countries as well, and in a short time, we will become the hub of European gas, also thanks to Algeria, the first supplier of natural gas to Italy in the first half of 2022, which will play a central role in this project, as well as Azerbaijan, another strategic supplier of methane and oil for Italy. The capacity expansion project, aimed at doubling the capacity by 2027, is already underway.

On January 31, 2023, Foothills Exploration, Inc, an oil and gas exploration and development company focused on supplying energy needs, completed the acquisition of twenty-one oil and gas wells, all located in Comanche County, Oklahoma. The Company’s return to production program will involve cleaning up existing wells, maintaining facilities, performing electrical work, and repairing flow lines, while production operations are expected to begin by the end of February. Currently, the Company is also evaluating other oiltargeted properties in the area for potential acquisitions. It has also signed two additional agreements for asset acquisitions in Kansas and Oklahoma.

We are talking a lot about the possibility of transforming Italy into a “gas hub”, that is, a hub for the distribution of fuel previously imported on our peninsula from North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean, towards northern Europe.

Eni representatives argue that Italy, thanks to its position, can take on a main role in Europe as a gas hub; according to Snam, Italy could import green hydrogen from North Africa, exploiting existing, appropriately modified pipelines. Such investments should be evaluated on the basis of their cost in relation to benefits and future levels of natural gas demand.

The agreement provides for a duration of forty years, this will allow to make important investments in the energy sector in Libya contributing to the development and creation of work in the country, and strengthening the position of Eni as the first operator in Libya.