Category: Italy

Eni SpA, Italy’s largest oil producer, reported a net loss in the third quarter after crude prices slumped. The adjusted net loss was 257 million euros ($281 million) compared with net income of 1.17 billion euros a year earlier, the Rome-based company said Thursday in a statement. “The fundamentals of the oil market remain weak due to oversupplied global markets and uncertainties about the resilience of demand,” Eni said, announcing a reduction in its annual spending plan. The shares fell as much as 1.6 percent in Milan. The price of Brent crude, a global benchmark, has tumbled about 45 percent in the past year amid a persistent glut. Eni and its peers have been forced to cut spending, sell assets and cancel projects to weather a decline in earnings, which has been partly offset by higher margins from oil refining. The Italian company, which operates five processing plants in […]

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ENLARGE Pirelli tyres ahead of the Italian F1 Grand Prix in Monza in September 2014. China National Chemical Corp. and other investors are making a bid for Pirelli. Photo: Reuters MILAN—China National Chemical Corp. and other investors are making a bid for Pirelli & C. SpA that could value the Italian tire manufacturer at around $7.7 billion—one of the largest overseas acquisitions by a Chinese state firm in recent years. The deal will give China, the largest auto market in the world, control of one of the world’s top tire brands and if the tender is completed, the largest acquisition by a Chinese state firm since oil giant Cnooc Ltd.’s $15 billion acquisition of Nexen Inc. in 2012, according to Dealogic data. A unit of China National Chemical, known as ChemChina, will initially pay about €1.8 billion ($1.9 billion) to buy a 26% stake in Pirelli owned by Camfin, […]

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ENLARGE Eni SpA said its fourth-quarter net loss widened as lower crude prices hit revenue and triggered write-downs. Photo: Bloomberg News MILAN— Eni SpA has reported a wider net loss in the fourth quarter as the sharp drop in crude oil prices played havoc with the Italian oil and gas group’s performance, knocking revenue lower and triggering hefty write-downs. Eni said its net loss widened to €2.34 billion ($2.67 billion) in the three months to end-December, compared with a net loss of €647 million in same period the previous year, on a 10% drop in revenue to €26.83 billion. Adjusted profit, which strips out special items, dropped by two-thirds to €464 million, below a consensus analysts’ forecast €614 million. Showing similar strain to its bigger European rivals like Royal Dutch Shell NV, BP PLC, and Total SA, Eni said it marked down the value of its oil and product […]

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Italy peak oil consumption. We are back to 1967.   All the data in this post are from BP statistical review up to 2012, updated to 2013 from various sources. Sometimes, peak oil looks like an intellectual game that people keep playing by arguing whether it has arrived or not. But the point with oil is not how much of it is produced, somewhere, but how much you can afford to use. And, for Italy, the peak of consumption has already arrived, as you can see in the figure above. It is impressive: consumption went down of more than 30% in less than 10 years. Today we are back to the levels of 1967. And, in 1967, Italy’s population was around 50 million people, some ten million less than today. We really have reached the other side of the peak and we don’t see […]

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The impoverished region of Basilicata, in the instep of the Italian boot, has long been called the Texas of Italy for oil reserves so abundant that crude bubbles out of natural springs. For years, though, local governments have hindered production amid complaints that the region wasn’t getting its fair share of the rewards and worries about potential harm to its tourism industry and the environment. Now, the Italian government—hungry for revenue and desperate to create jobs and jump start the recession-weary economy—is trying to clear the path for the country’s own Eni ENI.MI -0.17% ENI S.p.A. Italy: Milan € 17.37 -0.03 -0.17% Jan. 13, 2014 10:31 am Volume : 1.89M P/E Ratio 8.64 Market Cap €63.23 Billion Dividend Yield 6.33% Rev. per Employee €1,611,870 01/10/14 Italy’s Eni Shuts Nigeria Pipe… 01/08/14 Lebanon Again Delays Offshore … 12/26/13 For Big Oil, Asset-Sale Option… More quote details and news » […]

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