Eni can now receive oil from Venezuela as payment for gas, CEO says
Venezuela can now pay for gas received from Eni with oil thanks to a recent easing of U.S. sanctions, unlocking a situation that had left the Latin American country with a large debt to the Italian major, Eni's CEO said on Thursday.
"That's really a big upside, before we were stuck for almost one year. That created a build-up in our outstanding," Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi said during a post‑results call.
Descalzi, who confirmed that Venezuela owes the Italian group around $3 B, was referring to natural gas from the Perla offshore field, the only active offshore gas project in Venezuela, which is operated by Eni and Spain's Repsol.
The CEO said the company was working with U.S. groups on potential joint ventures to increase oil output at Junin, in the Orinoco Belt, and Corocoro, where Eni is already present.
A ramp up in production at these two blocks could allow the company to recover its credits with Venezuela more quickly, he said.
Descalzi added that Eni could eventually export part of the gas produced at the Perla facility to Europe, helping replace liquefied natural gas supplies that previously came from Russia.
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