ROME--Eni SpA (E) is threatening to quit Iraq unless Baghdad
signs outstanding energy contracts, Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni
said on Tuesday.
"We have been waiting for these contracts to be signed [for
renewal] for the last six months and if they aren't within a couple
of weeks, we will leave," said Mr. Scaroni on the sidelines of a
conference in Rome.
Mr. Scaroni added that he had no reason to believe that the
Iraqi authorities won't sign the production contracts. "We are
hopeful," he said.
Italy's largest oil and natural gas company is the operator of
the big Zubair oil field, while other partners are Occidental
Petroleum Corp., Korea Gas Corp. and Iraqi state company Missna Oil
Co.
Last May, Eni and the Iraqi oil ministry agreed to revise the
plateau production target at Zubair from 1.2 million barrels a day
to 850,000 barrels a day.
In September, Zubair's daily production was about 300,000
barrels.
Eva Palombo, of MF-DJ, contributed.
Write to Liam Moloney at liam.moloney@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires