Why Meloni in Qatar excites Eni, Leonardo and Fincantieri
Meloni discussed investments in energy and defense with the Emir of Qatar. Here are the latest events of Eni, Fincantieri and Leonardo and the most recent data on commercial trade
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived in Qatar today for a state visit. He met the Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, with whom he discussed collaboration in combating irregular immigration and investments, particularly in the defense and energy sectors.
WHAT ENI WILL DO WITH QATAR'S LNG
The statement from Palazzo Chigi underlines the "energy partnership" between Italy and Qatar and the "important collaboration opportunities" for Italian companies, starting with Eni. Eni, de facto controlled by the Ministry of Economy with over 32 percent of the shares, signed an agreement a year ago with the Qatari oil company QatarEnergy for the development of a large liquefied gas (LNG) project. The expansion of the North Field site – divided into two phases: North Field East and North Field South – is expected to be completed between 2026 and 2027.
Qatar is one of the largest LNG exporters in the world and is crucial to the success of Europe's energy separation plans from Russia; North Field is the name of the Qatari portion of one of the largest natural gas fields on the planet, shared with Iran. Among the companies involved in the North Field East plan are the French TotalEnergies, the US ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, the British Shell and the Italian Eni.
Beyond fuel supplies, Qatar is also relevant for Italy because it owns – through QatarEnergy – 22 percent of Adriatic LNG, the company that manages the Porto Viro regasification terminal.
WHAT FINCANTIERI AND LEONARDO WILL DO
As for opportunities for the defense sector, in May the Fincantieri naval group delivered the fourth "Al Zubarah" model corvette to Qatar. The agreement involves the construction – which will take place in Italy – of an amphibious ship and two patrol vessels, as well as the provision of support services for ten years: a contract valued in total at around 4 billion euros.
Leonardo, through the joint venture with PSC, carried out mechanical and electrical works in the Bayt Stadium in Al Khor City, which hosted some matches of the football World Cup at the end of 2022. The contract in question is still the subject of conflict with Webuild: the group Italian engineering team (which had obtained the contract for the stadium) asks Leonardo-PSC (subcontractor) for compensation of 300 million for the delay in the works.
The largest shareholder of Leonardo and Fincantieri is the Ministry of Economy, as in the case of Eni.
HOW ARE ECONOMIC RELATIONS GOING BETWEEN ITALY AND QATAR
According to SACE data, Qatar is the 37th destination market for Italian exports and the seventh market between the Middle East and North Africa. In 2022, Italian exports amounted to 3.4 billion euros, 70.5 percent more than the previous year, and are expected to continue to grow to reach 4.6 billion in 2026.
In the first five months of 2023 , however, Italian exports to the country fell to 1.2 billion compared to 1.3 the previous year. Exports also decreased in the same period of time: 1.3 billion compared to 1.8 billion in January-May 2022.
Italy mainly exports boats, armaments, aircraft and various machinery. Instead, you import LNG, to a large extent, and chemical products (fertilizers, plastics, synthetic rubber).
The Italian market share in Qatar is 5.7 percent, higher than that of other European nations such as Germany (5 percent) and France (2.7 percent).
As for exports, in 2022 they amounted to 5.9 billion, 188.5 percent more than in 2021.
In 2022, Italian net foreign direct investments in Qatar were worth 1.6 billion, and Qatari net foreign direct investments in Italy were worth 384 million.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/meloni-qatar-opportunita-eni-fincantieri/ on Mon, 11 Sep 2023 14:05:46 +0000.