Hearing

Descalzi: New Hormuz blockade changes the global energy landscape

Eni’s chief executive: ‘Complete halt to Russian gas from January’

by Rome Editorial Staff

16 July 2026

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L’amministratore delegato di Eni, Claudio Descalzi, è intervenuto in audizione di fronte alla Commissione Attività produttive della Camera IMAGOECONOMICA

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Descalzi: ‘Complete halt to Russian gas from January’
“We’ve been in a crisis for five years – the likes of which we haven’t seen since the early 1980s”
“Energy supplies from the Middle East will not return to what they were before”

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

“From an energy perspective, we are in a situation where the price has obviously not yet signalled this as a major problem, because around 400 million barrels of reserves have been drawn down by OECD countries and released onto the market, which has helped keep prices within a range of between 90 and 100 dollars’.”

This was stated by Eni’s chief executive, Claudio Descalzi, during a hearing before the Chamber of Deputies’ Committee on Productive Activities. “Following the signing of the agreement (with Iran, ed.), the price fell to $68, we have now returned to around 85,” said Descalzi, “obviously because there was no positive follow-up to that signing; now, since 11 July, not a single ship has passed through the Strait, so there is a new blockade. This changes the state of affairs; it changes it for Europe, and in this case, it changes it on a global scale.”

“There is talk of a shortage of crude oil,” continued Eni’s chief executive, “but refined products are very important, because they are ultimately consumed and drive up prices. For us, as in Europe, these are diesel and jet fuel .”

Jet fuel “was already in short supply; ever since access to the Russian market was cut off, around 60 per cent had been coming from the Gulf. And now it is US refineries that are making up the shortfall, operating at 95 per cent of their potential production capacity in order to compensate for the shortages”.

Descalzi: ‘Complete halt to Russian gas from January’

“As regards gas supplies,” said Descalzi, “36 billion from Russia will have to be offset by the United States or East Asia – this means we will face a further problem from January 2027. The aftermath of the war will lead to a complete halt in gas supplies to Europe.”

“This will leave us in a worse storage situation than last year,” continued Eni’s CEO, “ not for Italia, which is in line with last year at 71–72 per cent; everything has been contracted, whilst there are European countries that are well below that level. For Europe, which relies on gas, this is a cause for concern; for those countries that rely on nuclear power, such as France and, to some extent, Spain, it is less of a concern, although every country must still ensure stability.”

“We’ve been in a crisis for five years – the likes of which we haven’t seen since the early 1980s”

“What we are experiencing is something that has not been seen in the last four energy cycles – that is, since the early 1980s,” emphasised Eni’s chief executive.

“We are experiencing a crisis that did not begin now and has culminated in the Persian Gulf crisis, but over the last five years we have had Covid, and on that occasion the world drew on its strategic reserves just as it is doing now,” then the war in Ukraine and “this third episode, in the Middle East, and even today some 9–10 million barrels of crude oil alone remain blocked – and I’m not even talking about refined products”.

Descalzi pointed out that “these events, which we are used to seeing one by one, as isolated incidents, have taken place over a five-year period, and there has been neither the time nor the opportunity to recover; production has been cut back, strategic reserves are being used up at a rate even faster than during the Covid crisis, and the shortfalls have accumulated and have not been made up”.

‘Energy supplies from the Middle East will not return to what they were before’

Descalzi said that regardingthe energy supply landscape, ‘the previous configuration based on Russia and the Middle East has completely eroded’, with production levels that ‘are unlikely to return to previous levels for a long time. Even when these supplies from the Gulf do resume – once, I hope soon, all this is over – the risk associated with this region will be completely different”, with higher borrowing costs, higher insurance premiums and impacts on investment.