How to Survive in the New World of Big Oil

Italy’s Eni continues to pioneer a successful path to survival in Big Oil’s treacherous new world – get in bed, don’t compete, with the world’s state-owned oil companies.

Eni’s flexible strategy has already made it Big Oil’s most successful company in both Russia and Kazakhstan. Today, it announced a fresh partnership with Russia’s Gazprom – to build a $14 billion natural gas pipeline between Russia and Europe. The pipeline directly challenges U.S. and European Union policy.

Called South Stream, the pipeline would ship Central Asian and Russian natural gas into southern Europe. It’s part of a three-pronged Russian strategy to deepen its dominance of Europe’s natural gas market. Russia is also building a natural gas pipeline called Nord Stream, which would serve northern Europe. A third line would feed cheap Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan natural gas into Nord Stream and South Stream.

Eni hopes to parlay its cooperation with Gazprom into natural gas development deals in Russia, which has recently sharply resisted such relationships with western oil companies.

Washington and the EU are fighting to blunt the market impact of the trio of Russian lines. They are doing so by championing rival natural gas lines from Turkmenistan into Europe. But, as today’s announcement shows, Russia is more advanced in the contest.

Photo: Mini D
Rights: Creative Commons