Nigeria
Anche per il 2016 l’ENI ha dovuto rilasciare il suo 20F Form alla SEC, la Security and Exchange Commission of the United States of America. E’ un documento annuale che contiene tutte le informazioni che possono essere utili agli investitori che cosi possono decidere se comprare, vendere o mantere le azioni sui mercati USA.
L’ENI e’ quotata a Wall Street e cosi anche lei deve presentare il suo 20F.
Per l’anno che e’ terminato il 31 Dicembre 2016, ci sono 423 pagine. Da pagina F-88 a pagina F-100, fitte fitte, ci sono i cosiddetti “Criminal proceedings”, “Administrative Proceedings”, “Tax Proceedings”, “Court Inquries”, “Antitrust proceedings”.
Sono dodici pagine.
A suo tempo l’ENI mi ha fatto sapere che non apprezza che io traduca in italiano quello che c’e’ scritto su questi 20F, con tanto di carte firmate e intestate da una mezza dozzina di avvocati che ogni tanto compaiono anche sulle TV italiane.
Per cui, mi limito a fare copia incolla di quello che l'ENI stessa scrive in questi documenti.
Ed ecco qui, non tradotta, una lista di “proceedings” vari in cui il principale ente petrolifero d’Italia e’ coinvolto per il 2016.
C'e' un po di tutto, asbestos, DDT, Carrara, Augusta, Frosinone, EniPower, Congo, Praia a Mare, Lago Maggiore, Val D'Agri, Algeria, Ravenna, Kazakhstan, Angola, Cassano allo Jonio, Nigeria, Cerchiara di Calabria, Melilli, EniChem, Iraq, Costa Molina, Crotone, Gela, Porto Torres, Molfetta, Syndial, mercato del gas, tumori, un miliardo e mezzo di danni in Sardegna, nascita di bambini deformi, mancanza di operazioni di ripristino ambientale, evasione di tasse, pagamenti illeciti, rifiuti industriali non trattati propriamente, inquinamento da mercurio, corruzione, pagamento tasse sulle piattaforme offshore, zolfo, riversamento di sostanze radioattive, irregolarita' nella fornitura di carburante all'Alitalia, avvelenamento di acqua e di coltivazioni, corruzione internazionale, riversamenti di idrocarburi a mare, omidicio colposo, morte di dodici dipendenti, danni alla salute, condotta negligente, disastro ambientale, condanne alla galera per alcuni suoi manager/dipendenti.
Puo' bastare?
In alcuni casi sono solo indagini da parte dei giudici, in altre sono cause contro di lei con tanto di danni monetari.
Secondo loro e' il modo ordinario di condurre business.
Sono sicura che come a Viggiano sono innocenti di tutto, che sono tutte fatalita’ e invenzioni dei PM in tutto il mondo.
----
Eni is a party in a number of civil actions and administrative, arbitral and other judicial proceedings
arising in the ordinary course of business.
1. Environment, health and safety
1.1 Criminal proceedings in the matters of environment, health and safety
(i) Syndial SpA (company incorporating EniChem Agricoltura SpA - Agricoltura SpA in liquidation -
EniChem Augusta Industriale Srl - Fosfotec Srl) — Proceeding about the industrial site of Crotone.
A criminal proceeding is pending before the Public Prosecutor of Crotone relating to allegations of
environmental disaster, poisoning of substances used in the food chain and omitted clean-up due to the activity at a landfill site which was taken over by Eni’s subsidiary in 1991 following the divestment of an industrial complex by Montedison (now Edison SpA). The landfill site had been filled with industrial waste from Montedison activities until 1989 and then no additional waste was discharged there. Eni’s subsidiary carried out the clean-up of the landfill in 1999 through 2000. The defendants are certain managers at Eni’s subsidiaries that have owned and managed the landfill since 1991. Independent consultants performed an assessment during the 2014. Once the consultants completed their work, the acts returned to the Public Prosecutor of Crotone for the next step and possible indictment. The proceeding continues with the examination of the dismissal request submitted by the defense. The City of Crotone will act as offended party.
(ii) Eni SpA — Industrial site of Praia a Mare. Based on complaints filed by certain offended persons,
the Public Prosecutor of Paola started an enquiry about alleged diseases related to tumors that those
persons contracted on the workplace. Those persons were employees at an industrial complex owned by a Group subsidiary many years ago. Based on the findings of independent appraisal reports, in the course of 2009 the Public Prosecutor resolved that a number of ex-manager of that industrial complex would stand trial. In the preliminary hearing held in November 2010, 189 persons entered the trial as plaintiff; while 107 persons were declared as having been offended by the alleged crime. The plaintiffs have requested that both Eni and Marzotto SpA would bear civil liability. However, compensation for damages suffered by the offended persons has yet to be determined. Upon conclusion of the preliminary hearing, the Public Prosecutor resolved that all defendants would stand trial for culpable manslaughter, culpable injuries, environmental disaster and negligent conduct about safety measures on the workplace. Following a settlement agreement with Eni, Marzotto SpA entered settlement agreements with all plaintiffs, except for the local administrations. In December 2014, the Tribunal issued an acquittal sentence for all defendants, as the indictment was found groundless. The Public Prosecutor appealed against the sentence.
(iii) Syndial SpA and Versalis SpA — Porto Torres dock. In July 2012, the Judge for the Preliminary
Hearing, following a request of the Public Prosecutor of Sassari, requested the performance of a
probationary evidence relating to the functioning of the hydraulic barrier of Porto Torres site (ran by
F-88 Syndial SpA) and its capacity to avoid the dispersion of contamination released by the site in the near portion of sea. Syndial SpA and Versalis SpA have been notified that its chief executive officers and other managers are being investigated. The Public Prosecutor of the Municipality of Sassari requested that the above-mentioned individuals would stand trial. The Judge for preliminary investigation authorized that the two Eni’s subsidiaries would be arraigned to compensate any possible damage in connection with the proceeding. The trial was held with an abbreviated procedure. The plaintiffs Ministry of Environment and the Sardinia Region claimed environmental damage in an amount of €1 billion and €500 million, respectively. On the hearing dated July 22, 2016 the Judge pronounced an acquittal sentence for Syndial and Versalis. Certain of Eni’s employees were found guilty: the environmental manager of the area, the environmental manager of Porto Torres site and the manager in charge of the Syndial’s groundwater treatment plant, who were all condemned to one year, with a suspended sentence, for environmental disaster, which took place in the area in the period limited to August 2010 – January 2011. The provisional settlement awards compensation payment of €200,000 to the Ministry, €100,000 to the Sardinia Region and €100,000 to the Municipality of Sassari. The Judge did not mention any possible malfunctioning of the hydraulic barrier of Porto Torres site or ineffective implementation of any emergency safety measure, as claimed by the Public Prosecutor. Syndial will file an appeal against this decision.
(iv) Syndial SpA - The illegal landfill in Minciaredda area, Porto Torres site. On July 7, 2015, the Judge for the Preliminary Hearing of the Court of Sassari, on request of the Public Prosecutor, decided the seizure of the Minciaredda landfill area, near the western border of the Porto Torres site. All the indicted have been served a notice of investigation for alleged crimes of carrying out illegal waste disposal and environmental disaster. The seizure provision involved as well Syndial in accordance with the Legislative Degree No. 231 of 2001 that held companies liable for the crimes committed by their employees. The investigations are underway. With a reference to the clean-up activities in the Minciaredda area, on January 27, 2016 the administrative body responsible for sanctioning clean-up projects approved: i) the operative project “Nuraghe” which provides for the soil clean-up in the area “Peci” (deposit of pitch from dimethyl terephthalate – DMT) and in the area “Palte Fosfatiche” (phosphates deposit) in the Minciaredda area; and ii) an addendum to the operative project of clean-up of the groundwater in the Minciaredda area. Syndial obtained the necessary ministerial and judicial authorizations to start the remediation project. The investigations are underway.
(v) Syndial SpA - The Phosphate deposit at Porto Torres site (1). On June 30, 2015 the Judge for the
Preliminary Hearing of the Court of Sassari, accepting a request of the Public Prosecutor of Sassari,
sentenced to seize — as a preventive measure — the area of “Palte Fosfatiche” (phosphates deposit) located on the territory of Porto Torres site, in relation to alleged crimes of environmental disaster and carrying out an unauthorized disposal of hazardous wastes. Subsequently to a specific request, both the Public security officer of Sassari and the Judge for the Preliminary Hearing of the Court of Sassari authorized to implement better delimitation of the landfill area, to provide the area with devices to monitor the level of environmental pollutants and meteoric waters. The investigations are underway.
(vi) Syndial SpA - Phosphate deposit at Porto Torres site (2). On December 16, 2015, the Public
Prosecutor at the Court of Sassari sentenced to seize — as a probative measure — the containment systems for the meteoric waters in the area “Palte Fosfatiche” (phosphates deposit). These waters are being collected by Syndial following authorizations of the Public security officer of Sassari and the Judge for the Preliminary Hearing of the Court of Sassari. The indicted have also been served a notice of investigation for alleged crimes of omitted clean-up, management of radioactive waste and spill of waters containing hazardous substances. The Public Prosecutor decided to suspend the activities of collection, containment and preservation of the area, in spite that those activities have already been authorized. Syndial filed a request to continue conducting clean-up operations to the Judge for the Preliminary Hearing of the Court of Sassari. The investigations are underway.
(vii) Syndial SpA - Public Prosecutor of Gela. An investigation is pending before the Public Prosecutor of Gela regarding 17 former managers of the Eni Group. The proceeding regards alleged crimes of culpable manslaughter and grievous bodily harm related to the death of 12 former employees and alleged work-related diseases that those persons may have contracted at the plant of Clorosoda. Alleged crimes relate to the period from 1969, when the Clorosoda plant commenced operations till 1998 when the plant was shut down and clean-up activities were performed. The Public Prosecutor requested the performance of a medico-legal appraisal on over 100 people that were employed at the above-mentioned plant. This appraisal was performed by independent consultants designated by the Judge for preliminary investigation and did not find any evidence that the various diseases which underwent the medical appraisal could be directly linked to the exposure to emissions related to the production of chlorine and caustic soda. The consultants also found that production activities were in compliance with applicable laws and regulations on health and safety. On January 23, 2015, the Judge for preliminary investigation declared that the gathering of evidence before a trial was concluded. The Public Prosecutor issued a notice of the conclusion of preliminary investigations deciding not to ask for dismiss of charges only in relation to the one specific case, which regards one former employee which in the meantime had died, compared to the initial complaint that concerned several (over a hundred) cases of personal injury and manslaughter. Therefore, the proceeding has been downsized compared to the initial claim. The rest of the accusatory assumptions, however, seems to be groundless in the light of the results of assessment performed by independent
consultants appointed by the Judge for the preliminary investigation. The criminal proceeding is still
pending.
(viii) Seizure of areas located in the Municipalities of Cassano allo Jonio and Cerchiara di Calabria — Prosecuting body: Public Prosecutor of Castrovillari. Certain areas owned by Eni in the Municipalities of Cassano allo Jonio and Cerchiara di Calabria have been preventively seized by the Judicial Authority, following a pending investigation about an alleged improper handling of industrial waste from the processing of zinc ferrites at the industrial site of Pertusola Sud, alleged illegally stored. The circumstances under investigation are the same considered in a criminal action for alleged omitted clean-up that was concluded in 2008 without any negative outcome on part of Eni’s employees. Eni’s subsidiary Syndial SpA has removed any waste materials from the landfills. Besides that, Syndial defined an agreement with the Municipality of Cerchiara and the Municipality of Cassano to settle all claims relating to alleged damages caused by the unauthorized waste disposal in the landfills on the territory of the two Municipalities. The criminal proceeding is still pending. The remediation activities have been completed and the company filed a memorandum to request the closing of the proceeding.
(ix) Syndial SpA - Proceeding on the asbestos at the Ravenna site. A criminal proceeding is pending
before the Tribunal of Ravenna about the crimes of culpable manslaughter, injuries and environmental disaster, which would have been allegedly committed by former Syndial employees at the site of Ravenna. The site was taken over by Syndial following a number of corporate mergers and acquisitions. The alleged crimes date back to 1991. In the proceeding there are 77 affected victims. The plaintiffs include relatives of the alleged victims, various local administrations, and other institutional bodies, including local trade unions. The advocacy of Syndial claimed the statute of limitation about the instance of environmental disaster for certain instances of diseases and deaths. The Judge for the Preliminary Hearing at Ravenna decided that all defendants would stand trial and ascertained the statute of limitation only with reference to certain instances of crime of culpable injury. Concluded the trial, the proceeding entered the hearing phase for the final discussion. Syndial has signed some settlements. On November 24, 2016, the Judge, lifted the reserve, acquitted all the accused for 76 of the 77 contested cases and sentenced 6 of the 15 defendants for a single case of asbestosis.
(x) Raffineria di Gela SpA and Eni Mediterranea Idrocarburi SpA - Alleged environmental disaster. A
criminal proceeding is pending in relation to crimes allegedly committed by the managers of the Raffineria di Gela SpA and EniMed SpA relating environmental disaster, unauthorized waste disposal and unauthorized spill of industrial wastewater. Raffineria di Gela SpA has been sued for administrative offence in accordance with the Law Decree No. 231 of 2001. This criminal proceeding initially regarded soil pollution allegedly caused by spills from 14 tanks of the refinery storage, which had not been provided with double bottoms, in addition to the pollution of the sea water near the coast area adjacent to the site due to the failure of the barrier system implemented as part of the clean-up activities conducted at the site. On the closure of the preliminary investigation, the Public Prosecutor of Gela reunited in this proceeding the other investigations related to the pollution occurred at the other sites of the Gela refinery as well as hydrocarbon spills of EniMed. The proceeding is still pending.
(xi) Proceeding Val d’Agri. The Italian Public Prosecutor’s Office of Potenza startestarted a criminal
investigation in order to ascertain existence of an illegal handling of wastes material produced at the
Viggiano oil center, part of the Eni-operated Val d’Agri oil complex, and disposed at treatment plants in the national territory. After a two-year investigation, the Prosecutors decided for the domiciliary detention of 5 Eni employees and to put under seizure certain plants functional to the production activity of the Val d’Agri complex which, as a consequences, was shut down (60 kboe/d net to Eni), to be then resumed on 10 August 2016. From the commencement of the investigation, Eni has carried out several and in-depth technical and environmental surveys, with support of independent experts of international reach, who recognized full compliance of the plant and the industrial process with requirements of applicable laws, as well as with best available technologies and international best practices. The Company sought to obtain a repeal of the seizure before the jurisdictional authorities without an outcome. The Company studied certain corrective measures to upgrade plants which, although being not a structural solution, were intended to address the claims made by the public prosecutor about an alleged operation of blending which would have occurred during normal plant functioning. Those measures comprise building a gathering system of waters associated with the extraction of hydrocarbons at the gas lines. Those corrective measures were favourably reviewed by the public prosecutor, who granted Eni a temporary repeal of the seizure in order to allow the
Company perform the works. The in-charge department of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development duly authorized the works and established a strict schedule to execute the plant upgrading as requested by the public prosecutor. The plant modification works were completed on July 10, 2016 and on July 20, 2016, the Carabinieri of NOE, assisted by the Technical Consultant of the Prosecutor, conducted the inspection to verify the state of the site and the compliance of the correct execution of the plant upgrading. Following the report prepared by the Technical Consultant, as a consequence of the inspection conducted, the Prosecutor issued the decision for the definitive release from seizure of the plant while the Region took note the measure for the part of competence. On August 10, 2016, the plant was restarted with re-injection into the well Costa Molina 2. Simultaneously with the restart of the plant, the Company began the review procedure at AIA by presenting the documents within the deadline of 14 August 2016. The proceeding is at the preliminary hearings.
1.2 Civil and administrative proceedings in the matters of environment, health and safety
(i) Syndial SpA - Summon for alleged environmental damage caused by DDT pollution in the Lake
Maggiore - Prosecuting body: Ministry of the Environment. In May 2003, the Ministry of the Environment summoned Syndial to obtain a sentence condemning the Eni subsidiary to compensate an alleged environmental damage caused by the activity of the Pieve Vergonte plant in the years 1990 through 1996. With a temporarily executive sentence dated July 3, 2008, the District Court of Turin sentenced the subsidiary Syndial SpA to compensate environmental damages amounting to €1,833.5 million, plus legal costs that accrued from the filing of the decision. Syndial and Eni technical legal consultants have considered the decision and the amount of the compensation to be without factual and legal basis and have concluded that a negative outcome of this proceeding is unlikely. Particularly, Eni and its subsidiary deem the amount of the environmental damage to be absolutely groundless as the sentence lacks sufficient elements to support such a material amount of the liability charged to Eni and its subsidiary with respect to the volume of pollutants ascertained by the Italian Environmental Minister. Based on these technical legal advices, which is also supported by external accounting consultants, no provisions have been made with respect to the proceeding. In July 2009, Syndial filed an appeal against the above-mentioned sentence, and consequently the proceeding continued before a Second Degree Court of Turin. In the hearing of June 15, 2012, before the Second Degree Court of Turin, the Minister of the Environment, formalized trough the Board of State Lawyers its decision to not enforce the sentence until a final verdict on the matter is reached. The Second Degree Court requested Syndial to stand as defendant and then requested a technical appraisal of the matter. This technical appraisal was favorable to Syndial; however, the Board of State Lawyers questioned such outcome. On July 8, 2015, the Court of Appeal of Turin requested the consultants appointed by the Court to perform again a technical appraisal of the matter with aim to identify adequate measures for environmental restoration of the external areas. On June 13, 2016, the consultants filed an integration to the technical appraisal. In brief, the consultants validated the technical review of the matter and other technical assessments which were carried out by the Company together with local and national technical entities. The consultants concluded that: (i) no further measure for environmental restoration is required; (ii) there was no significant and measurable impact on the environment and the usability of the ecosystem, therefore no restoration or damage compensation should be claimed. The only impact which could be recorded concerns fishing, with an estimated damage of €7 million which can be already restored by means of the measures proposed by Syndial; (iii) the necessity and convenience of dredging should be definitely excluded, both from the legal and scientific point of view, while confirming technical and scientific correctness of the Syndial’s approach based on the monitoring of the process of natural recovery, which is estimated to require 20 years. On March 6, 2017, a second-degree Court issued a sentence repealing the first-degree court verdict, which had sentenced Syndial to compensate environmental damage in excess of €1.8 billion. The second-degree Court reaffirmed that monetary compensation is no longer applicable and requested Syndial to perform the already approved cleanup project of the polluted areas, which comprise groundwater, as well as compensatory remediation works. The value of these compensatory works requested by the Court, in case of Syndial failure to perform or misperformance, is estimated at €9.5 million. The cleanup project was filed by Syndial, was ratified by local and governmental authorities and is currently being executed. Expenditures expected to be incurred by Syndial have been provisioned in the environmental provision. Any other claims filed by the Italian Minister for the Environment were rejected.
(ii) Ministry for the Environment — Augusta harbor. The Italian Ministry for the Environment with
various administrative acts required companies that were running plants in the petrochemical site of Priolo to perform safety and environmental remediation works in the Augusta harbor. Companies involved include Eni subsidiaries Versalis, Syndial and Eni Refining & Marketing Division. Pollution has been detected in this area primarily due to a high mercury concentration that is allegedly attributed to the industrial activity of the Priolo petrochemical site. The above mentioned companies opposed said administrative actions, objecting in particular to the way in which remediation works have been designed and modes whereby information on pollutants concentration has been gathered. A number of administrative proceedings were started on this matter, which were reunified before the Regional Administrative Court of Catania. In October 2012, said Court ruled in favor of Eni’s subsidiaries against the Ministry prescriptions about the removal of pollutants and the construction of a physical barrier. The proceeding is still pending.
(iii) Claim for preventive technical inquiry - Court of Gela. In February 2012, Eni’s subsidiaries
Raffineria di Gela SpA and Syndial SpA and the parent company Eni SpA (involved in this matter through the operations of the Refining & Marketing Division) were notified of a claim issued by 33 parents of children born malformed in the Municipality of Gela between 1992 and 2007. The claim for preventive technical inquiry aims at verifying the relation of causality between the malformation pathologies suffered by the children of the plaintiffs and the environmental pollution caused by the Gela site (pollution deriving from the existence and activities at the industrial plants of Raffineria di Gela SpA and Syndial SpA), quantifying the alleged damages suffered and eventually identifying the terms and conditions to settle the claim. In any case, the same issue was the subject of previous criminal proceedings, of which one closed without ascertainment of any illicit behavior on part of Eni or its subsidiaries, while a further criminal proceeding is still pending. The consultants appointed by the Court and those designated by the plaintiffs performed a technical appraisal of the matter, reaching however very different outcomes. Thus, parties failed to reach a settlement of the matter. On December 22, 2015, the three involved Eni companies were sued following a claim of the parents of a girl, whose case was assessed by the above-mentioned technical appraisal. Subsequently, the Eni’s companies were sued in relation to other 30 case. The proceeding is pending.
(iv) Environmental claim relating to the Municipality of Cengio - Plaintiffs: the Ministry for the
Environment and the Delegated Commissioner for Environmental Emergency in the territory of the
Municipality of Cengio. The Ministry for the Environment and the Delegated Commissioner for
Environmental Emergency in the territory of the Municipality of Cengio summoned Eni’s subsidiary
Syndial before a Civil Court and sentenced the Eni’s subsidiary to compensate for the environmental
damage relating to the site of Cengio. The plaintiffs accused Syndial of negligence in performing the
clean-up and remediation of the site. On the contrary, Syndial believes they have executed the clean-up work properly and efficiently in accordance with the framework agreement signed with the involved administrations including the Ministry of the Environment in 2000. On February 6, 2013, a Court in Genoa ruled the resumption of the proceeding and established a technical appraisal to verify the existence of the environmental damage. Following failed attempts to define a settlement agreement of the matter among the involved parties, the Judge resumed the trial. The next stop in the procedure is the performance of an independent appraisal of the matter by a consultant appointed by the Judge.
(v) Syndial SpA and Versalis SpA — Porto Torres — Prosecuting body: Public Prosecutor of Sassari.
The Public Prosecutor of Sassari (Sardinia) resolved that a number of officers and senior managers of
companies engaging in petrochemical operations at the site of Porto Torres, including the manager
responsible for plant operations of the Company’s fully-owned subsidiary Syndial, would stand trial due to allegations of environmental damage and poisoning of water and crops. The Province of Sassari, the Municipality of Porto Torres and other entities have been acting as plaintiffs. The Judge for the Preliminary Hearing admitted as plaintiffs the above mentioned parts, but based on the exceptions issued by Syndial on the lack of connection between the action as plaintiff and the charge, denied that the claimants would act as plaintiff with regard to the serious pathologies related to the existence of poisoning agents in the marine fauna of the industrial port of Porto Torres. The proceeding continues before the Prosecutor of Sassari. In February 2013, the Prosecutor of Sassari has notified the conclusion of preliminary investigations and requested a new imputation for negligent behaviour instead of illicit conduct. In the conclusions of the preliminary hearing, the GUP of Sassari dismissed the accusation because of the statute of limitations. The Public Prosecutor filed an appeal before a Third Instance Court. After a hearing on a question of constitutional legitimacy concerning the period for the statute of limitations for the crime of disaster, the Third Instance Court recognized its validity and therefore accepted the claim and sent all the acts to the Constitutional Court.
(vi) Syndial SpA and Versalis SpA — Summon for alleged environmental damage caused by ille
illegal wastedisposal in the municipality of Melilli (Sicily). In May 2014, the Municipality of Melilli summoned Eni’s subsidiaries Syndial and Versalis for the environmental damage allegedly caused by carrying out illegal waste disposal activities and unauthorized landfill. In particular, the plaintiff claimed the responsibilities of Syndial and Versalis for the production of waste and because they commissioned the waste disposal. The plaintiff stated that this illegal handling of waste was part of certain criminal proceedings dating back to 2001-2003 which would have allegedly traced the hazardous waste materials back to the Priolo and Gela industrial sites that are managed by the above mentioned Eni’s subsidiaries (in particular, the waste with high mercury concentration and railway sleepers no longer in use). Such waste was allegedly handled and disposed illegally at an unauthorized landfill owned by a third party (this landfill is located about 2 kilometers from the town of Melilli). The claim amounts to €500 million and refers to two Group’s subsidiaries and SMA.RI, the company that carries out activities of waste disposal, being jointly and severally liable. On February 8, 2016, the Judge accepted an explanation of Eni’s subsidiaries stating that the request of municipality was not admissible, so that the request was rejected. The proceeding is still pending.
(vii) Summon for Eni, Raffineria di Gela SpA, EniMed SpA and Syndial SpA. 273 Gela residents filed an appeal to the Court of Gela requesting to halt all the production activities conducted by Eni’s
subsidiaries at Gela site in order to put an end to environmental pollution affecting the health of the local population. The claimants also requested the appointment of commissioners in charge of carrying out the plants shutdown and of continuing to implement clean-up activities in the area. Besides that, they requested the Court to order to the Municipality of Gela — as a competent body in the field of health protection — to adopt certain provisions aimed to preserve the health of the local population. This proceeding arose in connection with an alleged environmental damage caused by the industrial activities of the site and consequent necessity to protect the population from serious harm to the health. The initiative was underpinned by certain technical assessments performed by consultants appointed by the Court on the preliminary stage. The aim of these assessments was to establish cause-and-effect relationship between the industrial contamination and congenital anomalies reported in the town of Gela.
2. Court inquiries and of other Regulatory Authorities
(i) Reorganization procedure of Alitalia Linee Aeree Italiane SpA under extraordinary administration.
On January 23, 2013, the Italian airline company Alitalia which was undergoing a reorganization procedure, summoned Eni, Exxon Italia and Kuwait Petroleum Italia SpA before the Court of Rome, to obtain a compensation for alleged damages caused by a presumed anti-competitive behavior on part of the three petroleum companies in the supply of jet fuel in the years 1998 through 2009. The claim was based on a deliberation filed by the Italian Antitrust Authority on June 14, 2006. The antitrust deliberation accused Eni and other five petroleum companies of anti-competitive agreements designed to split the market for jet fuel supplies and blocking the entrance of new players in the years 1998 through 2006. The antitrust findings were substantially endorsed by an administrative court. Alitalia has made a claim against the three petroleum companies jointly and severally presenting two alternative ways to assess the alleged damages. A first assessment of the overall damages amounted to €908 million. This was based on the presumption that the anti-competitive agreements among the defendants would have prevented Alitalia from autonomously purchasing supplies of jet fuel in the years when the existence of the anti-competitive agreements were ascertained by the Italian Antitrust Authority and in subsequent years until Alitalia ceased to operate airline activity. Alitalia asserts the incurrence of higher supply costs of jet fuel of €777 million excluding interest accrued and other items which add to the lower profitability caused by a reduced competitive position in the marketplace estimated at €131 million. An alternative assessment of the overall damage made by Alitalia stands at €395 million of which €334 million of higher purchase costs for jet fuel and €61 million of lower profitability due to the reduced competitive position on the marketplace. With a decision dated May 23, 2014, the Court of Rome declared the connection with a judgment previously proposed by Alitalia itself before the Court of Milan against other oil companies participating to an alleged cartel agreement. The case was thus summed up by Alitalia before the Court of Milan. The proceedings is still pending before the First Degree Court. Eni accrued a risk provision against this proceeding.
(ii) Eni’s arbitration with GasTerra. In 2013, Eni initiated an arbitration against GasTerra, as part of
a long-term supply contract signed in 1986, to obtain a revision of the price charged by GasTerra to Eni for the gas supplied in the 2012-2015 period. On that occasion, Eni and GasTerra agreed to apply a provisional price, which was lower than the previous price, until the definition of a new contractual price based on an arrangement between parties or an arbitration award. An arbitration award of June 23, 2016 dismissed Eni’s claim for price revision, without however determining a new price applicable in the relevant period. GasTerra considers that, by dismissing Eni’s claim, the award restored the original contract price, based on which GasTerra now claims an additional amount to be paid by Eni which corresponds to the difference between the provisional price and the contractual price. Eni, relying also on the opinion of its external consultants, does not agree with GasTerra’s interpretation and regards GasTerra claim groundless. However, GasTerra, based on its own interpretation, commenced arbitration proceedings and obtained from a Dutch court the provisional seizure of Eni’s investment in its subsidiary Eni International BV, for the alleged trade receivable due by Eni (equal to €1.01 billion). This measure, which was granted after a summary review only and without Eni being heard, does not prejudice the outcome on the merits of the proceeding. In order to obtain the discharge of the seizure of Eni’s investment in Eni International BV, Eni proposed to GasTerra to replace the seizure with a bank guarantee of the same amount as the GasTerra claim, which would remain effective until the arbitration final award. GasTerra accepted Eni’s offer. With
the filing of the Stetement of Defense and Counterclaim, Eni will request that the arbitration panel states the provisional price established in the Agreement Letter continues being applied until a new contractual price is defined with retroactive efficacy from 2012, based on trends recorded in the Italian market. Currently it not possible to estimate a time schedule of the arbitration procedure because the panel has yet to be appointed. Presumably, a decision about the first award interpretation or about the interpretation of the Agreement Letter will not occur before the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2018. Eni will further seek compensation for any damages it incurs, due to GasTerra’s legal actions. At the present, there are no evidence to suggest that an upward revision of the provisional price is likely. Furthermore, Eni is part to another arbitration proceeding relating to the price revision of a long-term gas supply contract.
3. Court inquiries on the matter of criminal/administrative corporate responsibility
(i) EniPower SpA. In June 2004, the Milan Public Prosecutor commenced inquiries into contracts
awarded by Eni’s subsidiary EniPower and on supplies from other companies to EniPower. It emerged that illicit payments were made by EniPower suppliers to a manager of EniPower who was immediately dismissed. The Court served EniPower (the commissioning entity) and Snamprogetti (now Saipem SpA) (contractor of engineering and procurement services) with notices of investigation in accordance with Legislative Decree No. 231/2001 that establishes that companies are liable for the crimes committed by their employees who acted on behalf of the employer. In August 2007, Eni was notified that the Public Prosecutor requested the dismissal of EniPower SpA and Snamprogetti SpA, while the proceeding continues against former employees of these companies and employees and managers of the suppliers under the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 231/2001. Eni SpA, EniPower and Snamprogetti presented themselves as plaintiffs in the preliminary hearing. In the preliminary hearing related to the main proceeding on April 27, 2009, the Judge for the Preliminary Hearings requested all the parties that have not requested the plea-bargain to stand in trial, excluding certain defendants as a result of the statute of limitations. During the hearing on March 2, 2010, the Court confirmed the admission as plaintiffs of Eni SpA, EniPower SpA and Saipem SpA against the inquired parts under the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 231/2001. Further employees of the companies involved were identified as defendants to account for their civil responsibility. In September 2011, the Court of Milan found that nine persons were guilty for the above-mentioned crimes. In addition, they were sentenced jointly and severally to the payment of all damages to be assessed through a dedicated proceeding and to the reimbursement of the proceeding expenses incurred by the plaintiffs. The Court also resolved to dismiss all the criminal indictments for 7 employees, representing some companies involved as a result of the statute of limitations while the trial ended with an acquittal of 15 individuals. In relation to the companies involved in the proceeding, the Court found that 7 companies are liable based on the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 231/2001, imposing a fine and the disgorgement of profit. Eni SpA and its subsidiaries, EniPower and Saipem, which took over Snamprogetti, acted as plaintiffs in the proceeding also against the mentioned companies. The Court rejected the position as plaintiffs of the Eni Group companies, reversing a prior decision made by the Court. This decision may have been made based on a pronouncement made by a Supreme Court that stated the illegitimacy of the constitution as plaintiffs made against any legal entity, which is indicted under the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 231/2001. The Court filed the ground of the judgment in December 19, 2011. The condemned parties filed an appeal against the above-mentioned decision. The Appeal Court issued a ruling that substantially confirmed the first-degree judgment except for the fact that it ascertained the statute of limitation with regard to certain defendants. In 2015, the Supreme Court annulled the judgment of the Appeal Court of Milan ascribing the judgment to another section.
(ii) Algeria. Legal proceedings are pending in Italy and outside Italy in connection with an allegation
of corruption relating to the award of certain contracts to its former controlled company Saipem in
Algeria. On February 4, 2011, Eni received from the Public Prosecutor of Milan an information request pursuant to Article 248 of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure. The request related to allegations of international corruption and pertained to certain activities performed by Saipem Group companies in Algeria (in particular the contract between Saipem and Sonatrach relating to the construction of the GK3 gas pipeline and the contract between Galsi, Saipem and Technip relating to the engineering of the ground section of a gas pipeline). For that reason, Eni forwarded the notification to Saipem. The crime of international corruption is among the offenses contemplated by Legislative Decree of June 8, 2001, No. 231, relating to corporate responsibility for crimes committed by employees, which provides fines and interdictions to the company and the disgorgement of profit. Saipem promptly began to collect documentation in response to the requests of the Public Prosecutor. The documents were produced on February 16, 2011. Eni also filed documentation relating to the MLE project (in which the Eni’s Exploration & Production Division participates) even if not required, with respect to which investigations in Algeria are ongoing. On November 22, 2012, the Public Prosecutor of Milan served Saipem a notice stating that it had commenced an investigation for alleged liability of the company for international corruption in accordance to Article 25, second and third paragraph of Legislative Decree No. 231/2001. Furthermore, the Prosecutor requested the production of certain documents relating to certain activities in Algeria. The proceeding was unified with the Iraq-Kazakhstan proceeding, concerning a different line of investigation, as it related to the activities carried out by Eni in Iraq and Kazakhstan. Subsequently Saipem was served a notice of seizure, then a request for documentation and finally a search warrant was issued, in order to acquire further documentation, in particular relating to certain intermediary contracts and sub-contracts entered into by Saipem in connection with its Algerian business. Several former Saipem employees were also involved in the proceeding, including the former CEO of Saipem, who resigned from the office in December of 2012, and the former Chief Operating Officer of the Business Unit Engineering
& Construction of Saipem, who was fired at the beginning of 2013. On February 7, 2013, on mandate from the Public Prosecutor of Milan, the Italian Finance Police visited Eni’s headquarters in Rome and San Donato Milanese and executed searches and seized documents relating to Saipem’s activity in Algeria. On the same occasion, Eni was served a notice that an investigation had commenced in accordance with Article 25, third and fourth paragraph of Legislative Decree No. 231/2001 with respect to Eni, Eni’s former CEO, Eni’s former CFO and another senior manager. Eni’s former CFO had previously served as Saipem’s CFO including during the period in which alleged corruption took place and before being appointed as CFO of Eni on August 1, 2008. Eni conducted an internal investigation with the assistance of external consultants, in addition to the review activities performed by its audit and internal control departments and a dedicated team to the Algerian matters. During 2013, the external consultants reached the following results: (i) the review of the documents seized by the Milan prosecutors and the examination of internal records held by Eni’s global procurement department have not found any evidence that Eni entered into intermediary or any other contractual arrangements with the third parties involved in the prosecutors’ investigation; the brokerage contracts that were identified, were signed by Saipem or its subsidiaries or predecessor companies; and (ii) the internal review made on a voluntary basis of the MLE project, the only project that Eni understands to be under the prosecutors’ investigation where the client is an Eni Group company has not found evidence that any Eni employee engaged in wrongdoing in connection with the award to Saipem of two main contracts to execute the project (EPC and Drilling). Furthermore, in 2014, with the assistance of external consultants, Eni completed a review of the extent of its operating control over Saipem with regard to both legal and accounting and administrative issues. The findings of the review performed have confirmed the autonomy of Saipem from the parent company. The findings of Eni’s internal review have been provided to the Judicial Authority in order to reaffirm Eni’s willingness to fully cooperate. On October 24, 2014, Eni SpA received a request of probationary evidence by the Prosecutor of Milan relating to for the examination of two defendants: the former Chief Operating Officer of the Business Unit Engineering & Construction of Saipem and the former President and General Manager of Saipem Contracting Algérie SpA. On January 14, 2015, the Public Prosecutor of Milan notified the conclusion of preliminary investigations towards Eni, Saipem and eight persons (including, the former CEO and CFO of Eni and the Chief Upstream Officer of Eni who was responsible for Eni Exploration & Production activities in North Africa at the time of the events under investigation). The Public Prosecutor of Milan has issued a notice for alleged international corruption against all defendants (including Eni and Saipem on the base of the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 231/2001) in connection with the entry into intermediary contracts by Saipem in Algeria. Furthermore, some of the defendants (including the former CEO and CFO of Eni and the Chief Upstream Officer of Eni) were accused of tax offense for fraudulent misrepresentation in relation to the accounting treatment of these contracts for the fiscal years 2009 and 2010. Having acquired the actions of the court filed in relation to the request of probationary evidence, the minutes of the hearing and the documents filed for the conclusion of the preliminary investigation, Eni requested its consultants to perform additional analysis and investigation. As a result, Eni’s consultants reaffirmed their conclusions previously reported to the Company. In February 2015, the Public Prosecutor indicted all the investigated persons for above-mentioned crimes. On October 2, 2015, the Judge for the Preliminary Hearing of the Court of Milan dismissed the case and granted an acquittal in favor of Eni, former Chief Executive Officer and Chief Upstream Officer for all the alleged crimes. On February 24, 2016, the Court of Third Instance, upholding an appeal presented by the Public Prosecutor of Milan, reversed the dismissal, annulled the verdict, and remanded the proceedings to another Judge for the Preliminary Hearing in the Court of Milan. As a result of the new preliminary hearing dated 27 July 2016, the judge ordered the trial for all defendants, including Eni. The judgment of first instance is pending. At the end of 2012, Eni contacted the U.S. Authorities — the DoJ and the U.S. SEC — in order to voluntary inform them about this matter and kept them informed about the developments in the Italian prosecutors’ investigations. Following Eni’s notification in 2012, both the U.S. SEC and the DoJ have started their own investigations regarding this matter. Eni has furnished various information anddocuments, including the findings of its internal reviews, in response to formal and informal requests.
(iii) Iraq — Kazakhstan. A criminal proceeding is pending before the Public Prosecutor of Milan in
relation to alleged crimes of international corruption involving Eni’s activities in Kazakhstan regarding the management of the Karachaganak plant and the Kashagan project, as well as handling of assignment procedures of work contracts by Agip KCO. The Company has filed the documents collected and is fully collaborating with the Public Prosecutor. A number of managers and a former manager are involved in the investigation. The above-mentioned proceeding has been combined with another (the so-called “Iraq proceeding”) regarding a parallel proceeding related to Eni’s activities in Iraq, disclosed in the following paragraphs. On June 21, 2011, Eni Zubair SpA and Saipem SpA in Fano (Italy) were searched by the Judicial Authorities. The search involved the offices of certain Group employees and of certain third parties in connection with alleged crimes of conspiracy and corruption as part of the “Jurassic” project in Kuwait. Particularly, the alleged crimes would have been committed in order to illicitly influence the award of a construction contract outside Italy where Eni was the commissioning entity. Considering the claims of the Public Prosecutor, Eni and Saipem believed that they were damaged by the crimes committed by their employees. Eni considered those employees to have breached the Company’s Code of Ethics. In spite of this, Eni SpA and Saipem SpA were notified of being under investigation pursuant to the Legislative Decree No. 231/2001, which establishes the liability of entities for the crimes committed by their employees. Eni SpA was notified by the Public Prosecutor of a request of extension of the preliminary investigations that has led up to the involvement of another employee, as well as other suppliers in the proceeding. The Public Prosecutor of Milan requested Eni SpA to be debarred for one year and six months from performing any industrial activities involving the production sharing contract of 1997 with the Republic of Kazakhstan and in the subsequent administrative or commercial arrangements, or the prosecution of the mentioned activities under the supervision of a commissioner pursuant to Article 15 of the Legislative Decree No. 231 of 2001. On July 16, 2013, the Judge for Preliminary Investigation rejected the request for precautionary measures requested by the Public Prosecutor of Milan, because it considered the request groundless. The Public Prosecutor promptly appealed the decision before a higher degree court. After the appeal hearing, on October 21, 2013 such court rejected the appeal filed by the Public Prosecutor. The Re-examination Court rejected the appeal with judgment upon the merits due to the lack of serious evidence against Eni, accepting the defense arguments for which Eni suffered severe damages because of poor performances of some suppliers involved in the Kashagan project. In addition, the Court declared the lack of precautionary requirements considering the reorganization of the activities in Kazakhstan and taking into account of the initiatives of internal audit and control promptly adopted by Eni. The Public Prosecutor’s office did not appeal against the sentence of the Re-examination Court. Also based on this proceeding. The Prosecutor’s Office filed a request for dismissal of all the natural persons, and, on 5 January 2017, the judge for preliminary investigations who issued the relevant decree granted the above-mentioned filing request. A similar measure is expected for Eni that was involved at the same proceeding pursuant to Legislative Decree no. 231/01.
(iv) Block OPL 245 — Nigeria. On July 2, 2014, the Italian Public Prosecutor of Milan served Eni
with a notice of investigation relating to potential liability on the part of Eni arising from alleged
international corruption, pursuant to Italian Legislative Decree No. 231/2001 whereby companies are liable for the crimes committed by their employees when performing their tasks. As part of the proceeding, Eni was also subpoenaed for documents and other evidence. According to the subpoena, the proceeding was commenced following a claim filed by ReCommon NGO relating to alleged corruptive practices that according to the Prosecutor would have allegedly involved the Resolution Agreement made on April 29, 2011 relating to the Oil Prospecting license of the offshore oilfield that was discovered in Block 245 in Nigeria. Eni is fully cooperating with the Prosecutor and has promptly filed the requested documentation. Furthermore, Eni has voluntarily reported the matter to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. SEC. In July 2014, the Eni’s Board of Statutory Auditors jointly with the Eni Watch Structure resolved to engage an independent, US-based law firm, expert in anticorruption, to conduct a forensic, independent review of the matter, upon informing the Judicial Authorities. After reviewing the matter, the US lawyers concluded in summary that no evidence of wrongdoing on Eni side were detected in relation to the 2011 transaction with the Nigerian government for the acquisition of the OPL 245 license. The outcome of this review was transmitted to the judicial authorities. On September 10, 2014, the Public Prosecutor of Milan notified Eni
of a restraining order issued by a British judge who ruled the seizure of a bank account not pertaining to Eni domiciled at a British bank following a request from the Italian Public Prosecutor. The order was also notified to certain individuals, including Eni’s CEO and the Chief Development, Operations and Technological Officer, as well as Eni’s former CEO. From the available documents, it was inferred that such Eni’s officers and former officers are under investigation by the Italian Public Prosecutor. During a hearing before a Court of London on September 15, 2014, Eni and its current executive officers stated their non-involvement in the matter regarding the seized bank account. Following the hearing, the Court reaffirmed the seizure. On December 22 2016, Eni was notified of the conclusion of the preliminary investigation by the Italian Judicial Authorities. Following the request of the Public Prosecutor of Milan that the Eni’s CEO and the Chief Development, Operations and Technological Officer and the Executive Vice President for international negotiations, as well as Eni’s former CEO would stand trial, as well as Eni based on Italian law 231/2001 on corporate entity responsibility, on February 14, 2017, Eni’s attorneys were notified of the schedule of the preliminary hearing due on April 20, 2017. Upon notification to Eni of the conclusion of the preliminary investigation by the Public Prosecutor of Milan, the independent US-based law firm was requested by Eni to assess whether the new documentation made available from Italian prosecutors could modify the conclusions of the law firm prior review. The US law firm was also provided with the documentation filed in the Nigeria proceeding mentioned below. The independent U.S. law firm concluded that the reappraisal of the matter in light of the new documentations available did not alter the outcome of the prior review. On January 27, 2017, Eni’s subsidiary Nigerian Agip Exploration Ltd became aware of an Interim Order of Attachment (“Order”) issued by the Nigerian Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, upon request from the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), attaching temporarily the property known as Oil Prospecting License 245 (“OPL 245”) pending the proceeding for alleged corruption and money laundering started in Nigeria. NAE made an application to discharge the Order (along with the Shell affiliate co-holder of the license). On March 17, 2017, the Nigerian Court discharged the Order. Recently, Eni became aware of a formal filing of charges by the EFCC. Eni has provided a copy of charges filed by the EFCC, to the US-based law firm engaged to review the OPL 245 transaction, who upon review of such documents, did not modify their conclusion according to which no evidence of wrongdoing on Eni side was detected in relation to the acquisition of the OPL 245 license from the Nigerian government.
(v) Eni SpA Refining & Marketing Division — Criminal proceedings on fuel excise tax (Criminal
proceeding N. 6159/10 RGNR the Italian Public Prosecutor in Frosinone and criminal proceeding No. 7320/14 RGNR the Italian Public Prosecutor in Rome). Two criminal proceedings are currently pending, relating to alleged evasion of excise taxes in the context of the retail sales at the fuel market. In particular, the claim states that the quantity of oil products marketed by Eni was larger than the quantity subjected to the excise tax. The first proceeding, opened by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Frosinone against a third company (Turrizziani Petroli) purchaser of Eni’s fuel, is still pending in the phase of the preliminary investigation. This investigation was subsequently extended to Eni. The Company has cooperated fully with the proceeding and provided all data and information concerning the performance of the excise tax obligations for the quantities of fuel coming from the storage sites of Gaeta, Naples and Livorno. Eni ensured the best possible collaboration, handing in all the required documentation. Such proceeding referred to quantities of oil products sold by Eni, allegedly larger than the quantity subjected to the excise tax. After the ending of the investigation, the Fiscal Police from Frosinone, along with the local Customs Agency, in November 2013 issued a claim related to the evasion of the payment of excise taxes in the 2007 2012 periods for €1.55 million. In May 2014, the Customs Agency of Rome issued a payment notice relating to the abovementioned claim that was filed by the Fiscal Police and Customs Agency of Frosinone. The Company immediately appealed to the Tributary Commission. The second proceeding, opened by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rome, regarded alleged evasion of excise tax payment on the surplus of the unloading products, as quantity of such products was larger than the quantity reported in the supporting fiscal documents. This proceeding represents a development of the first proceeding mentioned above, and substantially concerns similar facts, with however some differences with regard to both the nature of the alleged crimes and the responsibility subjected to verification. In fact, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rome has alleged the existence of a criminal conspiracy aimed at the habitual subtraction of oil products at
all of the 22 storage sites which are operated by Eni over the national territory. Eni is cooperating with prosecutor in order to defend the correctness of its operation. On September 30, 2014, a search was conducted at the office of the former chief operating officer of Eni’s Refining & Marketing Division as ordered by the Rome’s Public Prosecutor. The motivations of the search are the same as the above-mentioned proceeding as the ongoing investigations also relates to a period of time when he was in charge of that Eni’s Division. On March 5, 2015, the Prosecutor of Rome ordered a search at all the storage sites of Eni’s network in Italy as part of the same proceeding. The search was intended to verify the existence of fraudulent practices aimed at tampering with measuring systems functional to the tax compliance of excise duties in relation to fuel handling at the storage sites. The three criminal proceedings were united together at Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rome, which is still conducting preliminary investigations. Ultimately, the Customs Agency, in reply to a request of the national association of refiners solicited by Eni, published a dedicated Circular which provides the rules the operators in the sector should follow to determine the quantity of oil products subjected to the excise tax, so as to give clarification to regional customs agencies, the Revenue Agency and the Finance Police. According to this Circular, Eni and other oil companies followed the correct procedures in order to determine the quantity subjected to the excise tax. In September 2015, the Public Prosecutor of Rome requested a one-off technical appraisal aimed to verify the compliance of the software installed at certain metric heads previously seized with those lodged by the manufacturer to the Ministry of Economic Development. The technical appraisal verified the compliance of the software tested. On this occasion, it became clear that the proceeding has been extended to a large number of employees and former employees of the company. The proceeding is at the preliminary investigations.
(vi) Block Marine XII, Congo. On July 9, 2015, Eni received from the U.S. Department of Justice a
subpoena ordering the Company to produce documents in view of the hearing of an Eni employee, relating to the assets “Marine XII” in Congo and relationships with certain persons and companies. According to preliminary informal contacts between Eni’s U.S. lawyers and the Authority, this hearing is part of a broader investigation, which is currently being carried out with regard to third parties. Within such investigation, Eni is considered a witness and — potentially — a damaged party. The documents required by the Authority are currently being collected and filed with the Authority.
4. Tax Proceedings
Italy
(i) Eni SpA — municipal tax related to certain oil platforms located in the Italian territorial waters.
Several tax proceedings are pending in Italy, as certain municipalities claimed Eni SpA omitted payments of a tax on property relating oil platforms located in the territorial waters under the municipality administration. After completing all degrees of judgment before Italian tax courts, on February 24, 2016, the Third Instance Court sentenced that: i) property taxes on platforms are due by Eni; ii) the taxable basis is to be defined by considering the platforms carrying amounts, instead of the replacement cost; iii) sanctions are not applicable. The proceeding continued with an indictment before a trial judge to determine the due amount. In a similar proceeding relating to another oil company, the Third Instance Court confirmed that these industrial installations might be subject to this local tax. Based on the outcomesof these resolutions, Eni started an out of court procedure to reach a settlement on the matter with the local authorities who submitted claims against the Company based on the taxability of oil platforms. This settlement will be pursued on condition that the local authorities agree with Eni a fair tax base and renounce any claim of sanctions as established by the Third Instance Court which resolved the inapplicability of any sanction to the matter in the case involving a local municipality. Based on the expectation of management to successfully conclude these settlements, Eni accrued a tax provision.
(ii) Eni SpA — Excise taxes. On May 31, 2016 the Customs Agency issued to Eni a payment notice
for a total sum of €134 million (of which €114 million referring to excise taxes and €20 million referring to interests), in addition to fines amounting to €34 million. This followed a claim filed in 2011, referring to legal proceeding started by the Court of Milan in 2010 pertaining to alleged culpable omission to pay excise taxes (for the period 2003 – 2008) due on 9.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas marketed by Eni in Italy. With a sentence dated June 28, 2012 the Public Prosecutor of Milan the Tribunal resolved to dismiss the proceeding against all defendants because the fact did not constitute an offence. In addition, the appeal filed by the Public Prosecutor was rejected by a final-degree Court with sentence dated July 3, 2013 and filed on January 7, 2014. With regard to the administrative proceeding, considering the documentation filed by Eni in the aftermath, the volumes allegedly subtracted to tax payment were reduced to 650 million cubic meters. Thus, the corresponding amount of allegedly due excise taxes decreased from €1.7 billion, initially claimed by the Public Prosecutor, to €114 million. Like the initial claim, the residual claim appears to be groundless, taking into account the fact that the gas volumes input into the national grid by Eni and gas volumes off-taken at each delivery points for reselling to final customers have different calorific power. This was confirmed by the opinion of sector experts and acknowledged by the Customs Agency itself during the consultation process with the Italian association of gas resellers. Therefore, the Customs Agency issued a new administrative claim configuring erroneous compilation of the consumption declaration only. The Customs Agency reiterated the claim because — even if the incidence of the calorific value has been acknowledged from a technical and scientific point of view and shared by the Agency itself, — at the same time the matter has not been explicitly regulated by an administrative act. In order to safeguard the Company’s assets, Eni’s management commenced the following initiatives: (i) an administrative claim has been filed in order to suspend the tax collection, accepted by the Customs Agency; (ii) an appeal against the Agency’s claim before a Tax Judge has been filed whose discussion hearing is scheduled. Based on current information and taking into account the outcome of the criminal litigation, the objections presented are considered groundless and, therefore, the Company did not accrue any tax provision in the consolidated financial statements 2016.
Outside Italy
(iii) Eni Angola Production BV. The tax Authorities of Angola filed a notice of tax assessment in
which it claimed the improper deductibility of amortization charges recognized on assets in progress related to the payment of the Petroleum Income Tax that was made by Eni Angola Production BV as partner of the Cabinda concession. The company paid the higher taxes under contestation for the years 2002 – 2006, requiring the recognition of its position for subsequent years and, accordingly, filed an appeal against this decision. The judgment is still pending before the Supreme Court. The tax authorities also contested to Eni Angola Production BV and to Eni Angola Exploration BV the recovery of certain costs (cost oil) for the tax years from 2003 to 2009, in relation to licenses regulated by oil contracts in Production Sharing Agreements, and that would result in a payment of further taxes on the higher profit oil resulting from the lack of the recognition of such costs. The companies contested the legitimacy of the claim formulated by the Ministry of Finance either as the power to approve the cost oil (recoverable costs) and the shares of profit oil contract lies solely to Sonangol (first party in the oil contract), or the tax deductibility of such costs. The companies have presented an appeal that is waiting to be discussed. Eni accrued a tax provision with respect to this proceeding.
5. Settled proceedings
(i) Action commenced by the Municipality of Carrara for the remediation and reestablishment of previous environmental conditions at the Avenza site and payment of environmental damage. In relation to the proceeding brought by the Municipality of Carrara and the Ministry for the Environment against Syndial SpA for the compensation of alleged environmental damages at the Avenza site. The proceeding was closed without ascertaining any responsibility of the company. In particular the Minister indicated Syndial as responsible for environmental damages on the belief that:
a) Syndial was liable for the environmental damage as the Eni subsidiary took over the site from the previous owners assuming all existing liabilities;
b) it was responsible for managing the plant and inadequately remediating the site after the occurrence of an incident in 1984;
c) it was responsible for omitted clean-up. Syndial established itself as defendant. The
Third Instance Court sentenced that only the first motivation of the appeal filed by the Ministry is valid, which related to the statute of limitations for the crime of disaster applicable exclusively to the previous owners of the site. Therefore, the Court has definitely confirmed that Syndial is not liable, neither for activities directly conducted (including alleged delay/omission of the clean-up activities claimed by the Ministry) nor for strict liability (as it took over the site from the previous owners). Particular attention should be paid to this second profile in the light of the fact that the Avenza site was transferred to Eni due to a law provision.
(ii) Eni SpA — Investigation for alleged violations of the Consumer Code in the matter of billing of gas and power consumptions. In relation to the proceeding brought by the Italian Antitrust Authority
(AGCM) in regard of alleged unfair commercial practices under the Consumer Code in the billing of gas and power consumptions to retail customers, after the conclusion of the investigation, the AGCM notified Eni its final ruling by imposing to the company a sanction of €3.6 million. The sanction has been paid. Eni appealed the decision to the Regional Administrative Court.
(iii) Fatal accident Truck Center Molfetta — Prosecuting body: Public Prosecutor of Trani. In relation
to a fatal accident occurred in March 2008 that caused the death of four workers deputed to the cleaning of a tank car used for the transportation of liquid sulphur produced by Eni in the Refinery of Taranto, the Public Prosecutor of Trani accused Eni and eight employees of the company for alleged manslaughter, grievous bodily harm and illegal disposal of waste materials. The decision of a first instance court which ruled acquittal for all the defendants and for Eni SpA, as legal entity, with the wide formula “because the alleged fact does not exist” was upheld in the subsequent degrees of judgments and became final on July 27, 2016.
(iv) Eni SpA — Reorganization procedure of the airlines companies Volare Group, Volare Airlines and Air Europe — Prosecuting body: Delegated Commissioner. In relation to the bankruptcy clawback as part of the reorganization procedure filed by the airlines companies Volare Group, Volare Airlines and Air Europe and the request of override of all the payments made by those entities to Eni in the year previous to the insolvency declaration from November 30, 2003 to November 29, 2004, the Court of Appeal of Milan ruled Eni to return a total amount of €9 million. The plaintiffs requested that the sentence against Eni would be reassessed to an amount of about €18 million. The proceeding is pending before a third-degree court. Eni accrued a provision in respect to this proceeding. The proceeding is no longer significant.
(v) Investigation by the Italian Antitrust about Eni’s determination of Italian market share of the Italian gas wholesale market. With Resolution No. 25064 of August 1, 2014, the Italian Antitrust commenced an investigation to verify whether Eni controlled a bigger share of the domestic wholesale gas market than it had declared. Following the Legislative Decree No. 130 of 2010, which envisages a 55% ceiling to the wholesale market share for each Italian gas operator who inputs gas into the Italian backbone network, Eni declared that its market share was equal to 54%, therefore slightly below the established threshold. Eni calculated its market share by excluding certain sales of gas volumes. On the other hand, the Antitrust rejected this calculation method and therefore concluded that Eni’s market share was actually 56%. Nonetheless, the Antitrust decided not to impose any fine on the Company as the violation was immaterial. The Antitrust considered the fact that in its declaration Eni explained clearly how its market share was calculated. Besides that, in the opinion of the Ministry of Economic Development, expressed during the investigation, Eni calculated its market share correctly. Eni filed an appeal against the Antitrust’s decision before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio, asking for annulment. Management does not expect any liability in connection with this proceeding.
Sono dodici pagine fitte fitte.
Puo' bastare?
No comments:
Post a Comment