Brussels, 29/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - By way of the decision adopted on Wednesday 29 September, the European Commission has made the commitments given by ENI SpA (the main gas supplier in Italy) to divest its shares, legally binding. This will put an end to procedures on cartels and dominant position begun in March 2009 against the company, following a Commission investigation in 2007. The decision taken today is particularly important, indicated a Commission spokesperson, because it subsequently opens up access to the Italian gas market, one of the biggest in the European Union, due to ENI's dominant position in the downstream transport and supply of gas to homes and companies.
In practice, ENI will sell the shares it owns in companies which control, use and manage transport capacity in three international gas pipelines - TAG, TENP and Transitgas - which supply gas to Italy from Russia (TAG) and the north of Europe (TENP and Transitgas). An undertaking independent of ENI will process demands for access to the gas pipelines from third parties. The sale of shares owned by ENI International gas pipelines will be carried out under the control of a divestiture trustee and potential share purchasers will require Commission approval. In the case of TAG, the agreement is that ENI will divest its shareholdings to a company controlled by the Italian state, which is likely to be Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP). Should no binding sale and purchase agreement be signed within the agreed divestiture period, ENI's shares in TAG will be sold by the divestiture trustee to any suitable public or private purchaser approved by the Commission.
This is the ninth major a decision on cartels and dominant positions since the 2007 investigation into the energy sector. It follows decisions involving E.ON and RWE in Germany and GDF in France. (F.G./transl.fl)