ENI Posts €2.22 Bn Profit In First Quarter

Italian oil and gas giant ENI (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi) recorded a net profit of 2.22 billion Euro (about N499.5 billion) from its operations in the first quarter of this year.

Speaking with the newsmen in Rome, Filippo Cotalini, a public affairs officer of the company, however, said that natural gas sales in the quarter was down by 8.6% due to the shutdown of ENI activities in Libya.

Cotalini described the company as one of the world’s biggest integrated energy companies with 80,000 employees in 79 countries.

He put its 2010 profit at 6.32 billion Euro from net sales of 98.52 billion Euro and market capitalisation at 59.2 billion Euro.

The company spokesman explained that ENI operations in Nigeria, through its subsidiary, Azienda Generale Italiana (AGIP), included exploration and production of petroleum products, liquefaction of natural gas, engineering and construction.

As at December 2009, he said, the company’s activities in Nigeria were conducted on a total of 44.048 sq km concentrated in the onshore and offshore areas of the Niger Delta which contained 100 production fields.

From its production fields, the company’s hydrocarbon production was 128,000 barrels per day of crude oil and condensate, he said. Cotalini said that the production level was expected to increase significantly with the company’s medium-term development initiatives. He also recalled that the company, in April 2005, inaugurated a 480 MW power plant powered by gas at Okpai Kwale in Delta State.

Cotalini assured that the company would continue to support the efforts of the Federal and state governments to reduce pollution and promote socio-economic development in the Niger Delta.