Eni closed its representative office in Russia

The Italian oil group Eni has closed its representative office in Russia. This was announced today by the Russian information agency, Interfax.

The closure is the consequence ofEni's loss of accreditation from the Russian government: the permit was revoked two days ago, on 5 June, according to the State Register of Accredited Branches and Representative Offices of Foreign Legal Entities (Rafp).

Contacted on the matter, Eni emphasised that this was of little consequence because they had already stopped almost all activities. However, they confirm the closure of the representative offices in Moscow,

Eni's representative office in Moscow had been inaugurated in 2000 and was one of Vittorio Mincato's creations: at the time, the state-owned company had strategic interests in Russia that would later lead to the famous agreement with Gazprom on gas supplies, under the Berlusconi government. Currently, Eni's Russian office was headed by Kazakh Nurzhan Kamalov, who was appointed a few months ago, last January. Kamalov is also general manager of Moscow-based Eni Energy LLC, which provides administrative support services to group companies, including, most recently, Eni Energy Russia B.V. and Eni Trade and Biofuels SpA.