Scaroni: corruption scandal did not hit Eni’s relations with Algeria

Eni’s CEO, Paolo Scaroni said new relations with Algeria’s energy group Sonatrach were not hit by corruption scandal as Saipem was accused of paying bribes to energy officials in Algeria to get contracts.

Scaroni’s remarks came following his visit to Algeria’s energy minister Youcef Yousfi on Thursday.

On his visit to Algeria, Scaroni also met with Sonatrach’s CEO Abdelhamid Zerguine and senior officials at the group.

His visit is the first of its kind since the corruption scandal broke out early in 2013.

All it seems that he informed Yousfi and the Algerian government about the results of an independent investigation inside Saipem which found no evidence about illegal payments to energy officials in Algeria.

Earlier, Italian media reported that Saipem gave $256 million to oil officials in Algeria to get $11.2 billion projects in 2006-2011.

Yousfi did not make statements about his talks with Eni’s CEO and he issued a short release about the visit. It talked about ways to develop relations between the Italian group and Sonatrach and future common projects.

Eni wants to take part in oil and gas exploration in Algerian costs after the national hydrocarbons law was amended.

Scaroni announced on Friday that his group will start exploring hydrocarbons in collaboration with Sonatrach on Atlas mountains between northern and southern Algeria.