SONATRACH

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni is looking to boost already strong energy ties with Algeria to further wean Italy off Russian energy, a focus of her two-day visit to the North African nation that started yesterday.

Italian energy giant Eni signed a memorandum of understanding on May 26 with Algeria's Sonatrach to boost gas exploration in the north African nation, as Rome seeks to reduce its reliance on Russia.

It was penned during a state visit by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to Rome, a few weeks after Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi made his own trip to Algiers.

Algeria's state energy firm is ready to supply Europe with more gas in view of a possible decline due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, its CEO said on Feb. 27.

Sonatrach CEO Toufik Hakkar said the firm was ready to pump additional gas to the EU from its surplus via the Transmed pipeline linking Algeria to Italy.

Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) has shifted to an aggressive commercial policy, aiming to reverse the contraction of its market share, which dropped to 33 percent at end-2019 from 58 percent in 2018.

No binding bids have been submitted for a majority stake in Greece's biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum, dealing a blow to a key part of a planned sell-off of state assets mandated by international bailouts.

Greece has set an April 3 deadline for shortlisted investors to submit binding bids for a majority stake in its biggest oil refiner, Hellenic Petroleum, two sources close to the sale said on Wednesday.
Greece and Paneuropean Oil and Industrial Holdings are jointly selling a 50.1 percent stake in Hellenic.

Greece is set to extend the deadline for two investors to submit final bids for a controlling stake in Hellenic Petroleum to give them more time to scrutinize the company's finances, two sources close to the matter said.

Greece on Monday approved two consortia to submit final bids for a 50.1 percent stake in its biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum, its privatizations agency said.

The consortia are: Glencore Energy with a unit of the US-based Carlyle Group; and Vitol Holding with Algeria-based Sonatrach.

Glencore and Vitol had already been short-listed last summer.

[Reuters]

The two candidate investors vying for 50.1 percent of Hellenic Petroleum (HELPE), Vitol and Glencore, are seeking partners to submit joint binding bids for the majority stake in the listed company by January 2019.

Turkish conglomerate Ronesans Holding and Algeria's Sonatrach have announced they will invest $1.2 billion to build a petrochemical facility in southern Turkey.