Stephen Jewkes News

Italy is looking to install two floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) to boost liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports as part of plans to cut reliance on Russian gas, Italy's energy transition minister said on Tuesday."Today we officially mandated (gas group) Snam to negotiate the acquisition of an FSRU and the leasing of a second," Roberto Cingolani said in a parliamentary hearing.His comments confirmed sources who earlier told Reuters the two vessels, with a combined capacity of more than 10 billion cubic meters (bcm)…

Italy's biggest banking group Intesa Sanpaolo could help fund Novatek's Arctic LNG 2 project even as some European governments show lukewarm support for the giant Russian gas project."We are studying the dossier ... though no decision has as yet been taken," Antonio Fallico, chairman of group unit Banca Intesa Russia, told Reuters on Wednesday.Fallico said the bank had been invited to look at the financing deal by SACE, the state-owned Italian export credit agency."If the bank decides this project does not breach our policy in some way we'll do it…

Europe's biggest utility Enel has agreed to work with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri to find ways to use green hydrogen in ports and long-range sea transport."The two companies intend to exploit their expertise and know-how in their respective sectors to identify possible sustainable and innovative solutions," they said in a statement on Thursday.Fincantieri and Enel Green Power Italia will in particular study the supply of green hydrogen to naval, submarine and surface vessels and industrial users in port areas and look into storage systems.Enel’s Eugenio Montale power plant in the town of L

The United States has assured Italian oil company Eni SpA that efforts to prevent a spill at a floating crude facility in Venezuela would not run afoul of sanctions, the company, and the U.S. State Department said on Monday.Images in recent months showing the Nabarima floating storage and offloading facility (FSO), part of the Petrosucre joint venture between Eni and Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, tilting to its side have raised concerns of a potential environmental…

Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) plans to offload crude from the Nabarima floating oil facility via ship-to-ship (STS) transfer amid environmental concerns, two people familiar with the matter said on Monday.The Nabarima, part of PDVSA’s Petrosucre joint venture with Italy’s Eni SpA in the Paria Gulf off Venezuela’s eastern coast, is laden with 1.3 million barrels of crude.Images last week showed it tilting on its side, raising worries about a possible oil spill.

Venezuela's state-run PDVSA and Eni are looking at options to safely offload crude from a floating storage facility on Venezuela's eastern coast that has remained idle for over a year due to U.S. sanctions, according to sources close to the discussions and a statement from the Italian oil company.The companies suspended output at their joint venture Petrosucre shortly after Washington imposed sanctions on PDVSA in January 2019, depriving the partnership of its main crude buyer, PDVSA's U.S.-based refining subsidiary Citgo Petroleum.About 1.3 million barrels of Corocoro crude stored at the FSO (floating storage and offloading facility) have remained stuck in the vessel…

Venezuela's oil exports have fallen nearly 28% in the first half of June, on course for the lowest level in over 70 years as tanker owners and operators suspend contracts for transporting crude oil, according to documents and data on Tuesday.Shipping firms are avoiding Venezuela after the United States earlier this month blacklisted four vessels and their owners for transporting the country's crude.Several shippers have turned tankers away from Venezuela's waters in the face of increasingly aggressive U.S. efforts to isolate and oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro by throttling the oil revenue that funds his government.State oil firm PDVSA and its partners in joint ventures have exported seven cargoes of crude and fuel so far in June to long-time customers including Italy's Eni…

Prysmian, the world's largest cable maker, pledged on Friday to raise the share of revenues from low carbon products to 50% by 2022 as part of plans to cut its carbon footprint.The Italian company, which supplies cables for industries ranging from high voltage power transmission to offshore wind-farms, telecoms and cars, said in a statement it aimed to cut carbon emissions by 2-3% by 2022.It said it also aims to reduce energy consumption by 3% in the time period."The energy transition is our core business and main driver of growth," Chief Executive Valerio Battista said in the statement.(Repor

Italian oil services group Saipem said on Thursday it could not offer new guidance for the year because of the highly unstable environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic and falling oil prices.Last week the group pulled its 2020 outlook saying the pandemic might trigger a sharp fall in demand and a delay in projects.On Thursday the company said it swung to a net loss in the first quarter of 269 million euros ($291.30 million), from a profit of 21 million euros the previous year…

Italy's Saipem has reached an agreement with Norway's Equinor to develop technology to build floating solar power farms close to the coast, the energy contractor said.The agreement is between Saipem's high-value services unit Moss Maritime and the Norwegian energy firm."The agreement with Equinor goes in the direction taken by Saipem and Moss Maritime to develop new technologies related to clean energy," said Moss Maritime Chief Executive Ida Husem.Saipem, a market leader in subsea construction for the oil and gas industry…

Equinor reported the oil industry's first coronavirus infection on an offshore installation on Wednesday, highlighting the challenge in preventing contamination for thousands of workers living in the close quarters on rigs and platforms.A worker was in isolation on the Norwegian energy firm's Martin Linge oil and gas platform off Norway where production is due to start at the end of this year, the company said. It said it would cut activity at the field, but personnel would remain at installations, while workers would reduce meetings and sit further apart in canteens to prevent further contamination. It has 776 people working on the project spread across three installations, Martin Linge, the Maersk Intrepid drilling rig and the Floatel Endurance accommodation rig.

Italy's Transport Minister has welcomed Spain's decision to send its navy to pick up migrants on board the Open Arms charity ship and take them to Spanish shores."I hope that Spain answers our appeal and commits to stopping Open Arms in the future with the means and in the ways it deems right," Toninelli said in a statement.The Open Arms, at sea for 19 days with almost 100 migrants onboard, has been waiting just off the Italian port of Lampedusa asking to bring the migrants ashore despite an Italian ban on private rescue ships docking.Reporting by Stephen Jewkes

Italy's Transport Minister has welcomed Spain's decision to send its navy to pick up migrants on board the Open Arms charity ship and take them to Spanish shores."I hope that Spain answers our appeal and commits to stopping Open Arms in the future with the means and in the ways it deems right," Toninelli said in a statement.The Open Arms, at sea for 19 days with almost 100 migrants onboard, has been waiting just off the Italian port of Lampedusa asking to bring the migrants ashore despite an Italian ban on private rescue ships docking.(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; editing by Pamela Barbaglia)

One of the 14 people injured after an explosion on a pipe-laying vessel in the Caspian Sea operated by Italian oil service group Saipem has died, a Saipem spokeswoman said on Monday.The explosion took place on May 8."Saipem deeply regrets to advise that one person who has been in most critical conditions has passed away," an Azerbaijan-based spokeswoman said.(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Mark Potter)

Rescue ship Aquarius, which has picked up almost 3,000 migrants from the Mediterranean this year, will carry out rescue missions without waiting for orders from coastguards and will not return people to Libya, its search and rescue head said."When we see there is a vessel in distress, with a high likelihood of people dying, we will go and rescue them immediately as per international maritime law," Nick Romaniuk told Reuters on board the Aquarius.Over the last year coordination centres asking rescue vessels to go on standby or wait for clarification on certain things had added to the danger of people needing to be rescued, which is why they would no longer wait…

Italian oil services company Saipem was in talks with rival Subsea 7 several years ago over a possible tie up but negotiations fell through, the group's CEO said on Wednesday."Some 3-4 years ago, before I became CEO there were contacts and talks that did not work out," Stefano Cao said on a call on second quarter results.Cao said there was nothing in this direction today.(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes, editing by Giulia Segreti)

Saipem has teamed up with Italy's state railways to bid for work on a Russian high-speed train project as the Italian oil engineering and contracting firm seeks new business to offset an ongoing slump in the energy industry. Oil service groups like Saipem have been hit by a sharp fall in oil prices since mid-2014 that has led energy majors to cut billions of dollars in costs and delay investments. Oil and gas exploration and development firms spent just 400 billion euros ($436 billion) on projects last year compared to 700 billion euros in 2014, according to Saipem CEO Stefano Cao. "We've signed a memo of understanding with Ferrovie dello Stato (Italy railways) to make a joint bid for a part of the Moscow-Kazan project," Cao told shareholders at a meeting on Friday.

Italian gas group Snam is in exclusive talks with EDF's Italian unit Edison to buy a stake in a liquefied natural gas terminal in northern Italy as part of plans to develop its LNG business, two sources said. Snam, controlled by state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, is looking to buy Edison's 7.3 percent stake in Terminale LNG Adriatico and the gas pipeline that connects it to Italy's gas transmission backbone, the sources said. Adriatic LNG, which has a capacity of 8 billion cubic metres per year, is 70.7 percent owned by ExxonMobil and 22 percent by Qatar Petroleum.

Energy majors BP and Eni on Thursday announced a significant natural gas discovery off the Egyptian coast. The discovery is in the Baltim southwest exploration prospect in the East Nile Delta. It is 10 km north of the Nooros gas field which was discovered in July last year and has a production rate of 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, the companies said. Italy's Eni, through its subsidiary IEOC, holds a 50 percent stake in the licence of Baltim South and BP holds the other 50 percent. The new discovery "further confirms the significant potential of the so called Great Nooros Area, which is now estimated to hold 70-80 billion cubic metres of gas in place," Eni said in a statement. BP said that appraisal activities will be required to understand its full resource potential.

Italy's state railway is expected to bid for its Greek counterpart TRAINOSE, but Russian Railways (RZD) is less likely to do so, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. Privatisations, a key part of Greece's international bailout agreements since 2010, have reaped just 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) so far, far short of the initial target of 50 billion euros, amid political resistance, bureaucratic problems and union opposition. Binding bids for Greece's railway network are due by 1400 GMT on Wednesday. Athens is selling TRAINOSE and maintenance company ROSCO to meet the terms of its latest EU/IMF deal signed last summer. It received non-binding expressions of interest in TRAINOSE from Italy's state railway, RZD and Greek construction group GEK-Terna in April.

Cyprus on Sunday accused the Turkish military of obstructing a ship contracted by Italian oil company Eni from approaching an area to explore for natural gas, highlighting tensions over offshore resources in the east Mediterranean. A spokesman for Eni said on Sunday the Saipem 12000 drill ship had been heading from a location southwest of Cyprus towards an area southeast of the island on Friday when it was stopped by Turkish military ships and told not to continue because of military activities in the destination area. Turkey, which does not have diplomatic relations with Cyprus, claims that certain areas in Cyprus's offshore maritime zone, known as an EEZ, fall into the jurisdiction of Turkey or that of Turkish Cypriots.

A Turkish blockade of a ship hired by Eni to drill for gas off the Cyprus coast is a diplomatic issue that is out of the Italian oil company's hands, Eni's CEO said on Friday. Last week, the Saipem 12000 drill ship heading from a location southwest of Cyprus towards an area southeast of the island was stopped by Turkish military ships and told not to continue because of military activities in the destination area. The ship is still halted, a Saipem spokesman said. Asked about the incident, Claudio Descalzi said Italy, Europe, France, Cyprus and Turkey were discussing the issue. "It's not really under our control," he told analysts during a conference call on the company's fourth quarter results.

Italian oil major Eni has no plans to pull out of its joint venture with Russia's Rosneft despite escalating sanctions against Russia, the head of Eni said on Wednesday."We certainly have not pulled out, we're working with them," CEO Claudio Descalzi said on the sidelines of a conference.Eni, one of Europe's biggest importers of Russian gas, extended a cooperation agreement with Rosneft last year to explore the Russian Barents Sea and the Black Sea, and to consider further opportunities together.But after the United States imposed major new sanctions against Russia earlier this month, speculat