La Priolo refinery is one step away from sale a Goi Energy. After three months of meetings and checks, the Government should today give the go-ahead, with conditions, for the sale of the second largest Italian refinery to the private equity fund in Cyprus. Barring surprises, indiscretions from ministerial sources leak that the Dpcm (decree of the president of the council of ministers) is expected at the Council of Ministers today, Tuesday 11 April, with which the government will decide not to use special powers in matters of companies which carry out activities of "strategic importance" (the so-called Golden Power), authorizing the operation with a series of strict conditions.
An event in which not only the economic aspect comes into play - in order to guarantee continuity of production and employment in a strategic sector - but also a geopolitical one. But why might the government decide not to sell the Priolo refinery to Goi Energy? Let's take a step back.
The Priolo refinery one step away from being sold: what happened?
On January 9, 2023 the Russian Lukoil – bound by EU sanctions enacted on December 5 – announced that it had reached a binding agreement with the Greek-Israeli-Cypriot consortium Goi Energy, in partnership with Trafigura, the commodity giant with offices in Switzerland and Singapore, for the sale of the entire site. The operation should have been completed by the end of March. But the examination of the dossier precisely under the profile of Golden power delayed the closing.
Because the Priolo refinery is not just any industrial complex, but one of the most important for the supply of Petroleum: supplies about 14% of the total national refined product. And precisely the strategic importance - formalized with a dpcm last 4 February - made it necessary for the Government to request more information in the field of employment protection, investments for the development of the area and the green conversion of the industrial site. Elements that will be contained in the provisions of the Golden power rules. Not only that, the Executive has carefully examined all the ties of Goi and its investors, finding no Russian presence, and has turned on the relationship between Trafigura (one of the largest independent operators of oil and petroleum products in the world) and Bazan group which owns a refinery in Israel, potentially in competition with the Sicilian site.
Who is Goi Energy
Goi Energy is the energy arm of Argus, New Energy Fund, managed by a leading private equity and asset management firm in Cyprus. The managing director of the fund, Michael Bobrov, is also the chief executive officer and majority shareholder of Green Oil Energy, which in turn is the majority shareholder of Bazan Group, one of the largest and most complex energy groups in Israel, owner of the country's main refinery. Goi Energy has signed exclusive agreements with Trafigura which will have to ensure a safe supply of oil to the refinery but also support the need for working capital.
Priolo refinery: the green light for sale with conditions
The government, with the Golden Power committee of Palazzo Chigi and the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy led by Adolfo Urso, worked on the dossier for weeks. However, according to Sole 24 Ore, the government intends to protect itself from the point of view of oil supplies, which must be multi-year (we are talking about 10 years) and tracked to be sure that they do not arrive from Russia or other countries subject to sanctions.
This explains why the confrontation with Trafigura was one of the decisive elements in the cycle of hearings that the government concluded on 4 April.
Then there is the whole environmental chapter. There has been much discussion about discharge limits and the use of the purifier.
Once the Golden power knot has been dissolved, the closing of the transfer transaction to Goi Energy, for a value according to market sources of around 1,2 billion euros, should materialize in the coming weeks.
Important balances at stake: US concerns
As revealed by Republic, administration Use is watching the operation very carefully: because Cyprus is one of the countries where the penetration of Russian capital is strongest in the EU and because Priolo is located just thirty kilometers from the most important US military base in the Mediterranean, Sigonella, used for NATO operations .
It was no coincidence that the Americans had come forward to acquire the Sicilian plant through the crossbridge fund: a financial behemoth related to Postlane Capital Partners based in New York.
