EC greenlights Gazprom buying stake in dealer Promgas from Eni
MOSCOW. Dec 12 (Interfax) - The European Commission has given the go-ahead for Gazprom group company Gazprom Schweiz to buy 50% of the Italian dealer Promgas S.p.A. from Italian energy company Eni, the regulator said.
Promgas is owned by Gazprom Export and Eni on equal terms. Italian energy company Edison is its sole client. Promgas buys gas from Gazprom at the Austrian gas hub in Baumgarten under a long-term contract valid until 2022 and supplies 2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year.
Gazprom is unfolding a campaign to streamline gas, possibly by eliminating intermediaries and/or increasing its stake in the intermediaries.
Edison this year agreed review the terms of the contract with Promgas, after bringing court action. Edison was paying $400 per thousand cubic meters last year, far more than other intermediaries were charging, the source said.
Promgas last year supplied 1.71 bcm of the 13.05 bcm of Russian gas that Italy imported.