Eni SpA, Italy’s biggest energy company by market value, said Tuesday that a refining boom in the Middle East is putting pressure on European refiners because the MidEast producers, who have lower costs, are now entering the market in Europe especially the Mediterranean. “Italy was a hub for Middle Eastern crude, but not anymore as Middle East [oil companies] are now vertically integrated,” Domenico Elefante, Eni’s executive vice president for refining, told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of the Global Refining Summit in Barcelona. Elefante also said it isn’t a problem for Eni to replace Iranian barrels which are subject to western sanctions as the import volumes have been low. He didn’t provide further details on the volumes.