Eni


Accounting firm Ernst & Young released its Oil & Gas Center’s quarterly outlook this week highlighting the major trends expected in various petroleum industry sectors over the near term. It’s done on a quarterly basis and provides an overall view of main themes to be watching. It is primarily generated as an internal document, “so everyone knows what’s going on and highlights are sent to clients,” Foster Mellen, Senior Analyst with Ernst &Young’s Oil & Gas Practice told Breaking Energy.

Some points of interest include the long-overdue startup of Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan field and how companies may cope with US natural gas prices that have persistently remained below historical norms. Keep reading →


Sustained growth in spending on exploration and production across the globe will focus on plays outside North America, a survey from a global bank concludes, despite the country’s growing profile and its potential to become the top global crude producer in coming decades.

Global exploration-and-production spending is poised to reach a record $644 billion by the end of 2013, a semi-annual Barclays analysis predicts. The spending report also foresees strong oil prices, which have emerged as the principal bellwether for growth in E&P budgets. Keep reading →


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.

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