Eni to Restart Oil Field as Waste-Trafficking Probe Continues
August 12 2016 - 10:40AM
Dow Jones News
Eni SpA on Friday said it has restarted production at an oil
field in southern Italy that a court had forced it to shut down
earlier this year, pending an investigation into illegal waste
trafficking.
A court in the Basilicata region in the most southern part of
mainland Italy ordered the Val d'Agri oil field to be closed in
late March, after the arrest of several Eni employees. The probe is
continuing and Eni, Italy's largest company by market value, has
said it is cooperating with the court and isn't guilty of any
wrongdoing.
Restarting the oil field, Eni's most productive in its home
market, is crucial for the company, which reported a drop in
second-quarter production and revenue, partly due to the
shutdown.
Eni, like its competitors, is already struggling to respond to
depressed oil prices that have forced asset sales and belt
tightening.
Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi had said late last month
that he expected production to restart at Val d'Agri by the end of
August. The company has used the downtime to carry out maintenance
work at the oil field.
Before the shutdown, the site had been producing about 75,000
barrels of oil a day, with most of that going to Eni. Royal Dutch
Shell PLC also owns a stake in the field. Eni last year produced
about 1.8 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, with 170,000
coming from Italy.
Write to Eric Sylvers at eric.sylvers@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 12, 2016 10:25 ET (14:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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