When Italy’s Eni agreed last June to pay $4.9bn for London-based independent Neptune Energy, it flagged up Algeria’s 400mn cfd-capacity Touat gas project as one of the key assets being acquired (MEES, 30 June 2023).
But the troubled project, which has been offline more time than online since its official September 2019 start-up, remains a headache for the Italian company as it was for Neptune. The project has now been offline continuously since November 2021, with Eni missing its end-2023 restart target in time for completion of the Neptune deal (MEES, 2 February). (CONTINUED - 248 WORDS)