It’s not just any healthy chauvinism. It is that another nation that responded to the gas crisis like Italy did is not there. And that’s because there was no other energy company that burned everyone in time like Eni, led by CEO Claudio Descalzi. The two entities, Nation – Italy and Company – Eni, moved in unison. Making visible again what we have been hearing for almost 70 years. And that is that in post-war Italy, Eni represents the shadow foreign ministry. An economic and financial powerhouse capable of influencing Italian foreign policy. A company controlled by the government (30.3% appoints its directors), but over 50% of its capital is in the hands of large international investors.
From February to date we have read of at least five government missions to reduce dependence on Russian gas: to Algeria, Angola, Congo, Mozambique and Qatar. Missions were often accompanied by Prime Minister Mario Draghi (stopped only once by Covid) and the head of the Farnesina Luigi Di Maio, the third peer was Descalzi. In reality, it was the latter that took the Italian government for a stroll in Africa and the Emirates, being able to capitalize on a unique competitive advantage in the world accumulated over decades of economic ties forged by Eni. If you consider that the two go hand in hand, receiving huge amounts of additional gas from these countries requires political and government support at this historic moment.
Descalzi thus prepared the ground for the missions that would allow the government to finalize the agreements communicated later. In the next three years, 9-11 billion cubic meters of gas will arrive from Algeria and Libya via the Transmed pipeline; Egypt and Qatar will contribute another 5 billion in 2023; and by 2023-2024, Eni will have liquefied gas from the Congo project, which together with that in Angola is worth at least another 6 billion. And then there will be Mozambique. The result will be a replacement of Russian gas (30 billion cubic meters per year) by 50% next winter, 80% for the 24th and full autonomy in three years. From 2025, the project announced yesterday – also by LNG – with Qatar will start to bear fruit.
Descalzi, 67, is in his third three-year tenure at the helm of the six-legged man. Difficult years for the company, which has struggled with the oil slump, and for the manager, who faced international corruption charges in 2017, a charge he was acquitted of last year. Events that have not slowed down his commitment, particularly on the African continent, where Descalzi – who, with Scaroni at the helm of the group, was head of Exploration and Production – has developed fields almost everywhere. For example, under his leadership, Eni discovered Zohr in Egypt, the largest offshore gas field in the Mediterranean. Eni’s activities in the countries where it is active in the research, development and production of hydrocarbons are naturally linked to state-owned companies. Hence the need to stabilize these relations also through Italian diplomacy.
We see the result of these historic relationships in these months of new international agreements.
The other side of the coin is the same reason why we need to replace Russian gas today: even depending on Gazprom was Eni’s strategic choice, which was considered the most convenient at the time.
Today, the energy balances point in other directions. And Eni is back at the forefront. Like a beacon that – whether you like it or not – remains one of the few fixed points in the nation. Waiting for a political system capable of producing more stable and enduring governments than has been the case for over a decade.