Italy's ENI is expanding in Pakistan with a new onshore gas concession and is in longer-term talks to bring gas from the Caspian Sea region to Pakistan, India and China, its CEO said on Wednesday. ENI chief Paolo Scaroni spoke to reporters after a meeting in Rome with a Pakistani delegation headed by President Asif Ali Zardari, who is using a visit to Italy to rustle up more investment in his country.
A Pakistani official had said on Tuesday he expected ENI to double its investment in the country to around $3 billion by as early as next year, but Scaroni said the size of further investments would depend on new oil and gas finds in a country where internal demand outweighs production.
Scaroni said ENI, which through its acquisition of Lasmo in 2000 is Pakistan's first gas company, had just won the exploration block onshore of Sukhpur with local company PPL and Royal Dutch Shell . "This is very promising and close to the other blocks we already have," Scaroni said.
He said ENI was also looking for gas and possibly oil off Karachi's shores, and longer term aimed to bring gas from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and possibly Iran - where ENI is already operating - to Pakistan, India and China. "Of course this is a long-term idea and with Iran the situation is delicate. But it would reshape the economic geography of the area," Scaroni said. "Talking to President Zardari I have found complete support for ENI to be the main driver behind this initiative," he said.
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