Versalis News

Annual traffic for 2016 was over 46.7 MT, an increase of 0.3% compared with 2015. However, the port of Dunkirk did not escape the effects of the economic climate in 2016, which included the technical shutdowns, for maintenance, of the ArcelorMittal steel works blast furnace No. 4 and the Versalis petrochemicals plant, the permanent closure of SRD (Société de la Raffinerie de Dunkerque) and the delayed opening of the LNG terminal. In addition, grain exports have been penalised by a poor harvest since the summer of 2016. General cargoes continued well, with only a slight drop of 1% to a tonnage of 20.3 MT. Cross-Channel traffic had been exceptional in 2015, increasing by 17% to 16.25 MT.

Eni, the international oil and gas company, released its group results for the first quarter of 2013 (unaudited). • Leverage: down to 0.24. • Versalis entered partnership agreements with Genomatica, Pirelli and Yulex targeting continuing expansion in the bio-technologies and the bio-ruber segment. Paolo Scaroni, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We confirm our growth and profitability targets for the full year 2013, in spite of a slower first quarter. This was negatively impacted by lower oil and gas production due to contingencies as well as to the current downturn in the gas market.