The future of Isab of Priolo remains an unknown. While waiting for a lasting and reliable solution to be found, on 1 December the Government approved a decree law providing for it the trusteeship of the rSicilian refineries that indirectly belong to the Russian Lukoil, effectively taking temporary possession of a plant which alone accounts for 20% of Italy's refining capacity and employs a thousand workers (10 thousand counting related industries). On several occasions, various government officials, including Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, have agitated the specter of nationalization, but in the rear we continue to negotiate. In fact, for weeks there has been talk of the interest of the Fund Use Crossbridge for the purchase of the refinery. In the past few hours, second Republic, another actor would have joined the negotiating table. It is a new consortium presented to the government by a team of consultants which includes the former Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, with the Qatari businessman at the centre Ghanim Bin Saad Al Saad, alongside Italian investors.
Isab di Priolo: the negotiations with the Crossbridge fund
Among the reasons that make a sale urgent is also the triangulation between Russian oil, Italian petrol and exports to the USA – where the embargo on Russian oil was triggered well before that in Europe – in an attempt to circumvent the heavy US sanctions. A problem that puts the Italian government in difficulty.
For 14 years, the Priolo refinery, in the province of Syracuse, has been in the hands of Lukoil. With the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the consequent entry into force - last December 5th - of theembargo on Russian oil, however, the Moscow oil giant is no longer considered a reliable interlocutor and for this reason new solutions are being thought of for the future of the plant. The main one remains the negotiations entered into by Lukoil itself with the US fund Crossbridge which two giants of oil trading are ready to join Vitol and Trafigura, who are based in Switzerland.
Who is Saad Al Saad
In the last few hours, the billionaire would also have entered the "Priolo match". Saad Al Saad, who thirty years ago gave life to the GSSG conglomerate in Qatar, made up of 45 companies in various sectors such as aviation, real estate, asset management, communications, as well as hydrocarbons.
According to the newspaper headed by Maurizio Molinari, a few days ago the new consortium, which also includes Italian and Qatari investors, together with the former premier and current consultant Massimo D'Alema and other strategic and legal consultants, met the minister of environment and energy security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin (Forza Italia), which with Urso and Giorgetti deals with the Priolo case. How that plays out remains to be seen.
