Switching Italians to Russia
Italian Eni and Enel are willing to produce gas in Russia, generate energy and produce coal. Moreover, they are eager to close ranks with Russia’s atomic energy agency, Rosatom, for the world expansion of nuclear energy. In exchange, Gazprom is promised access to power engineering of Italy.
Rome hosted yesterday the Dialogues Forum of Italian and Russian businesses timed to the visit of RF President Vladimir Putin. The prime interest of Enel in Russia is operating generating assets, Enel chief Fulvio Conti made clear during the event, specifying that Enel will bid for WGC-4 and WGC-5 wholesale generating companies.
Enel plans to construct a gas power plant of 800 MW in Russia in tandem with Viktor Vekselberg’s Renova. As to the access to gas production, Enel counts to get it via the venture with Italian Eni and Russia’s ESN of Grigory Berezkin, which is eyeing gas assets of Yukos under the deal with Gazprom.
But Enel won’t neglect other sources of energy. It is willing to invest in the coal projects in Russia, the company said yesterday. Today, Enel will enter into intention protocol with Rosatom related to the nuclear power plant construction. The memorandum will spell out cooperation in atomic power engineering in Russia and in Central and Eastern Europe, Fulvio Conti said. First of all, the matter at stake is using Russia’s technology for Slovenske Elektrarne that is controlled by Enel and stepping up investments in Slovakia.
This large-scale expansion in Russia is bound to cost dear to Eni. Gazprom, for instance, will join the Libyan gas projects of the company, the media reported earlier. Yesterday, however, it was announced that Gazprom will be also offered a share in Eni Power, which plants consume 6 billion cu meters of gas a year.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 14, 2007
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