Important news from Eni which aims to relaunch Libyan activities and moves on Algerian drilling.
In detail, as far as Libya is concerned, the CEO of the six-legged dog, Claudio Descalzi, together with the president of the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC), Mustafa Sanalla, and the managing director of BP, Bob Dudley, signed an agreement which provides for the restart of the process for the assignment to Eni of a 42,5% stake in BP's Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement in Libya.
Descalzi's aim is to relaunch exploration and development activities in Libya. In fact, the agreement establishes that Eni replaces BP in the role of operator in contractual areas A and B (onshore) and C (offshore).
We recall that BP currently holds an 85% stake in each block, while the Libyan Investment Authority holds the remaining 15%. Exploration activities should begin in 2019.
At the same time in Algeria, Eni is preparing to sign an agreement with Sonatrach and Total by the end of the year for the start-up of offshore drilling in two departments of the North African country.
The news was announced by the managing director of Sonatrach, Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour who, speaking with the local press, said he had "had the opportunity to meet the managing directors of Eni and Total in Vienna to discuss risk sharing ”. “We will work together to develop this offshore potential,” Kaddour added. The two potential Algerian offshore sites indicated by Kaddour are located east of Skikda in eastern Algeria and east of Mostaganem in western Algeria.
At Piazza Affari, Eni's share rides, rising by 2%, a performance that clearly beats the Ftse Mib (+0,25%) and goes hand in hand with the increases of Saipem (+2,1%) and Tenaris (+ 2%). The rise in oil prices is also encouraging purchases: Brent today travels at 84,6 dollars a barrel (+0,8%), while Wti gains 0,6% to 74,75 dollars.
