Here is an excerpt from the interview with Eni's CEO Paolo Scaroni, during the CNN program Quest Means Business, aired last night.
“We have a strong position in Ukraine, where we are still in the exploration phase. When I met (last November, ed) President Yanukovych was to sign an agreement for an area in the Black Sea (for the exploration and development of an area located in the Ukrainian Black Sea, ed.). At the moment we don't have a large economic exposure in the country but Ukraine is certainly a country of great interest for us. Ukraine is in desperate need of gas and we are engaged in the exploration of both shale gas and conventional gas in the country.
We currently have no expats in the country, we are waiting to see if the situation returns to normal and I will definitely return to the country and get in touch with the new authorities. In our history we have experienced government changes in many countries where we operate and normally new governments honor contracts, so I don't expect big problems in Ukraine in this regard.
As for Gazprom, we expect changes to our gas contracts in our favor. We have just reached a new framework agreement with Statoil in this regard and will start new negotiations with Gazprom in the coming weeks. Furthermore, the fact that Gazprom is placing new conditions on Ukraine is an issue that does not involve us (from the point of view of the contractual conditions, ed).
We do not expect any changes in our relationship with Gazprom (following the Ukrainian affair, ed). And this story isn't impacting the gas market either, prices are at the same level as 10 days ago. Of course, if we consider a catastrophic scenario, in which Russian gas no longer flows through Ukraine, the situation would be different. It is a scenario that I frankly do not expect but which is always possible and we must always be prepared even for catastrophic scenarios.
I think Ukraine is probably the most promising country in Europe for shale gas and that's why we are there. We have 9 blocks that we are exploring, Ukraine is in desperate need of gas, and this is evident today, and we are very busy finding shale gas for the country”.
Click here to read the full interview
