This Is Why “Eni” And Italy Get Algerian Gas, Unlike The Others

Events have shown that Italy’s “Eni” is one of Algeria’s most important energy partners, because it is one of the few companies, if not the only one, that does not hesitate to invest, pump money and expand its presence in Algeria whenever the opportunity arises. This is why, during the Ezz global crisis, it and its country received additional quantities of Algerian gas.
A few days ago, the Italian giant announced in a statement that it had signed a huge deal with the Far Energy company, which will see it acquire the assets of the Neptune Energy company, which specializes in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons and which owns assets in the Touat gas project in the Adrar region (southern Algeria), knowing full well that production has been suspended for some time.
The value of the deal amounted to $4.9 billion, according to which “Eni” will pay $2.6 billion to acquire all of Neptune’s activities, except those located in Norway, which will be acquired by Far Energy for a payment of $2.3 billion, noting that Far Energy is a Norwegian company and is also considered a subsidiary of the Italian “Eni”.
According to “Eni”, Neptune Energy owns assets in the UK producing 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, the Netherlands producing 18,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and Algeria through the “Touat Gas” project, in addition to Egypt, Indonesia, Australia and Norway.
The “Eni” statement noted that the “Touat Gas” project in Algeria is currently on hold and will resume production once the modernization of the gas processing facilities has been completed, when total production will reach 400 million standard cubic feet per day, equivalent to 70 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day.
According to information secured by “Echorouk”, Neptune Energy did not want to continue investing in the project, in particular pumping money to clean up the gas processing facilities in order to resume production. And restart production with this important project.
It is very likely that the new deal will be approved by the Algerian authorities, informed sources told ”Echorouk”, given the relations between the two friendly countries and between Eni and Sonatrach, and also in comparison with previous experiences such as the acquisition of the British BP assets in Ain Amenas and Ain Salah. .
During his last visit to Algeria last November, specifically to the Bir Rabaa region, north-east of Hassi Messaoud, an oil field managed by “Eni” with Sonatrach, its CEO Claudio Descalzi seemed annoyed, even angry, at what was said at the time, especially from European circles, about the reasons why “Eni” and Italy were getting Algerian gas.
Descalzi replied at the time that “Eni” had stayed in Algeria, invested and pumped money and continued to do so, asking: “Where were the others? Where were the others when we decided to invest and stay and pump money?” So, “Eni” and Italy get Algerian gas.
A few months ago, the Italian giant ended negotiations with British Petroleum (BP), which decided to leave Algeria for good and forsake  its Ain Salah and Ain Amenas projects, and “Eni” was the first to negotiate and buy its assets, knowing that these two fields produce large quantities of gas every day. They are managed between Sonatrach and the Norwegian company Equinor, formerly Statoil.