The oil price scenario indicates an upward trend and traders are all optimistic but Eni continues to maintain a conservative scenario at $60 a barrel. Thus Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni to the microphones of 'Circo Massimo'. “There was an important event that the agreement between the Opec and non-Opec countries which has an economic but also a political value and reassured the market that there is a regulator that does not cause prices to drop or rise too much. The price thus rose to 62-63 dollars also due to the stoppage of the pipeline in the UK. With the OPEC cut of 1,8 million barrels and the British freeze of over 400 barrels, we are 2,2 million barrels down and we are close to rebalancing supply and demand. Furthermore, inventories are returning below 3 billion barrels, to the levels of a year and a half ago and all operators are optimistic that there will be an increase in prices”.
Like Eni "in our scenarios we are still conservative at 60 dollars a barrel but the balance portends an increase" added Eni's number one, who also intervened on the gas market, after the accident at the Austrian Baumgarten site. “The one at the Baumgarten hub is in an anomalous accident – said Descalzi -, because I don't remember an accident like this in the last 30 years. Of course it is Russian gas that goes entirely to Italy and like Eni, we have had to replace 57 million cubic metres, which is a lot“. "However, the strategic reserves have not been touched, the system has held up very well and fortunately we are on the way to a full recovery".
However, the event led to an immediate surge in prices, which Descalzi comments comprehensively: “There are two components that explain the increase in gas prices in recent days and after the accident in Austria, which are the very cold moment with an increase in consumption and with the Italian hub which has higher prices and the fact that we have had to import gas already linked to other contracts by buying it back and tying it to the Italian contracts. Eni has replaced 50% of the gas by paying more and reselling it at lower prices. Wednesday – he said – we acted as a shock absorber. The Italian system's strong points are the existing storage and networks. Luckily we have Algeria and Libya and we have recovered”.
In conclusion, “Italy depends for over 90% on foreign countries, so we are exposed to risk. The market has structural weakness, it lacks energy. We are less than 7 billion cubic meters of domestic production and renewables have a weakness that depends on the fact that they are scarcer in winter: therefore gas will have to find more and more diversification, which means more sources and more countries from which we import". Even if Russia has proved to be a reliable partner for Italy and for Europe.
