ENI says will stop supplying ILVA

(ANSA) - Rome, December 17 - Italian energy giant ENI said Wednesday that it will stop supplying fuel to the troubled ILVA steel plant in Taranto at the end of the year. "Having ILVA not concluded any commercial agreement with ENI, nor with any other gas supplier, ILVA entered a default-supply regime on October 1, 2014," ENI said in a statement. "That regime has a maximum duration of 90 days and, as such, will expire at the end of the year". Earlier on Wednesday, outing special commissioner for ILVA Piero Gnudi told a parliamentary hearing that it would be a "catastrophe" for the steel-maker if ENI cut off supplies, stressing it had paid all its bills up to now.
    Gnudi also said that it will be difficult to sell parts of the troubled steel plant in southern Italy while much of it is impounded. Major international steel giants, such as ArcelorMittal-Marcegaglia and Arvedi, have expressed interest, but it would be a tough sell while ILVA is in continued difficulty, Gnudi told a commission of the Lower House. "Nobody ever bought an impounded company, and today 75% of ILVA is seized," Gnudi said of the scandal-plagued steelmaker, which has threatened to shed jobs and even close over the massive costs of an environmental cleanup at its plant. Private companies interested in ILVA "showed concern" about its problems, including orders issued by European courts to deal with the environmental problems at ILVA. But all have said they could agree to "maintain employment levels," added Gnudi, who became special commissioner of the plant in June. Earlier this month, Premier Matteo Renzi said that his government was considering whether to take over the plant, saying in media interviews that if it did, it would not be a long-term deal. Instead, Renzi said, if the government did take on ILVA, it would hold Europe's largest steel producer for only "two or three years, defend employment, protect the environment, and then relaunch it on the market". ILVA was placed under special administration by the Italian government in 2013 and in October 2014, the European Commission gave Italy two months to deal with the longstanding health and environment problems at the ILVA steel plant. If it fails, it risks seeing the case referred to the European Court of Justice, the EC warned. The European Union has been pressing Italy to ensure the ILVA plant complies with laws on industrial emissions and health standards, and said in October it had some "serious shortcomings" Other problems around management of waste, protection of soil, and groundwater are outstanding, the EU said. The plant still emits too much industrial dust "with potentially serious consequences for the health of the local population and the environment". Brussels had already sent Italy two previous letters urging action on ILVA.