Italian energy company Eni has pulled out of its joint Black Sea shelf project with Russian oil giant Rosneft, while the temporary suspension of another Eni-Rosneft venture,
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2018) Italian energy company Eni has pulled out of its joint Black Sea shelf project with Russian oil giant Rosneft, while the temporary suspension of another Eni-Rosneft venture, on the Barents Sea shelf, is currently being discussed, an employee of the Russian government's Executive Office said on Wednesday.
"In March 2018, when the drilling of the first super deep prospect well at the Zapadno-Chernomorskaya license area located in the Black Sea shelf was completed, Eni company exercised its right to abandon the project, and did it in March 2018. As for the Barents Sea shelf projects, the conditions for their temporary suspension are currently being discussed," the employee told reporters ahead of the meeting between Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte.
He recalled that in June 2013, Rosneft and Eni started implementing joint projects on shelf oil fields exploration in the Black Sea and the Barents Sea.
In mid-May, media reports emerged that the US sanctions against Russia called into question Eni's possibilities to finance oil projects with Rosneft, while the Eni CEO qualified the reports as rumors and said that the company remained in its joint ventures with Rosneft.
