Fuel: Eni to maintain a price cap on diesel and petrol until the end of the year

Eni will maintain a price cap on diesel and petrol until the end of the year. This is what the CEO, Claudio Descalzi, explained to *Il Sole 24 Ore* in a comment on the results presented today by the company: ‘We confirm that we will assess its value but will maintain the price cap until the end of the year. As for the level of the cap, currently set at 2.25 euros for diesel and 1.99 euros for petrol (as announced in early October), we will monitor market and price dynamics, as well as the supplies actually available in relation to our logistics structure, in order to assess it over the course of the period.”

During the interview, Descalzi pointed out that the economic impact – from March onwards and projected through to the end of the year – resulting from price-control policies and price caps would amount to around 700 million. The response from customers has been very significant, “so much so that we had more than 900 petrol stations running out of stock because they had no more products, even though we were supplying them twice a day,” explained the CEO.

As you will recall, Eni had announced the introduction of a cap on fuel prices from 28 September, initially for a period of 30 days, with the possibility of extending it until the end of the year depending on market trends and supply conditions. This decision was justified in light of the contraction in the supply of refined products on the international market resulting from ongoing geopolitical crises which, combined with a shortage of refining capacity at European level (almost 30 refineries have closed in the last 15 years), has led to ‘fuel prices to levels that are extremely burdensome for Italian households and businesses’, as the group had pointed out. Hence the move by the ‘Six-Legged Dog’ to make ‘a new solidarity contribution to the country’, following the initiatives launched in March. Eni now intends to extend this further.