This is the gift of the 'secret' visits to Algeria by Eni’s CEO

The Italian energy group Eni duly bolstered its presence in Algeria during the previous year, both for the production of oil and gas and also for contracts awarded to research and exploration.

These spin-offs came after a series of “secret” visits to Algeria of the Executive Director of the Italian energy company Eni (“Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi”), namely Claudio Descalzi, thus making the Italian company, through its presence in Algeria, the second in Africa in terms of licenses.

These visits took place in January and November 2015 and April 2016, when the executive director of Eni met with the Prime Minister Mr Sellal, the Minister of Energy Mr Khebri and the CEO of Sonatrach Mr Mazouzi.

To recall, Eni, which has been successfully operating in Algeria since 1981, with a production of 100,000 barrels per day, is considered the first foreign producer in Algeria.

And hence, Eni bounced back stronger after the scandal that shook its subsidiary Saipem, accused of having paid bribes to some Algerian officials in the energy sector in exchange for juicy energy-related contracts.

Moreover, Eni’s good financial results for 2015 show that this Italian energy group has been shored up in Algeria and is pursuing its development activities in the hydrocarbons sector, notably in the MLE oil field of Hassi Messaoud (southern Algeria) where Eni owns 75 % of the ongoing project and where production is foreseen to revolve around 30,000 oil barrels per day by the year 2017.