North Stream gas would cost Italy more, says Eni CEO

(AGI) St Petersburg, June 16 - Responding to journalists' questions, Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said the Italian multinational oil and gas company had nothing against the North Stream pipeline, but that the gas would cost Italy more. Mr Descalzi's comments came in the wake of remarks by Russia's Deputy Energy Minister and Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller. During a panel at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Mr Miller said that North Stream would bring more advantages from an economic point of view because of the conditions of the Ukrainian pipelines. "I agree with Mr Miller's point of view, as well as Germany and Holland, that the North needs gas", Mr Descalzi said on the sidelines of the forum. "There are three pipelines: the North Stream, one from Belarus and one that crosses Ukraine, which is the one supplying Italy. The further the gas gets from Italy, the higher the logistics costs. That is my observation. If I lived in Germany or north of Germany I would be very happy. I am not discussing political or technical matters, Europe needs increased supply. Therefore, it's a good thing. What I thought was that it would be interesting to have piplines that are closer. South Stream could have been a good thing from that point of view, whereas I do not know the future of Ukraine. It was a concept of costs for Southern Europe. We are saying the same thing from two different points of view. We have absolutely nothing against North Stream." Commenting on remarks published in the newspaper Sole 24 Ore by Rosneft CEO Igor Sachin that he was keen to "expand collaboration with Eni", Mr Descalzi said Rosneft was "already an excellent partner of Eni." He added that he would consider whether collaborations with the Russian oil giant should be stepped up. "These are all things that need to be assessed. We need to assess the sanctions, the assets, but Rosneft is an excellent partner. We have worked with them for a very long time, we have three offshore blocs. Of all the companies, we are perhaps the ones with a lower exposure to upstream than the others. I'm thinking of Exxon and Total. Perhaps Mr Sechin was hoping to intensify matters in that sense", he concluded. (AGI). .