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Claudio Descalzi, Chief Operating Offi cer, eni


More recently, oil and gas companies in Africa have faced what could be seen as an additional threat, with the prospect of competition from Chinese rivals. So far, Descalzi does not believe that Chinese companies have the edge over their western counterparts, pointing out that “it’s not easy” to enter the African oil and gas market because of the amount of capital, skills and technology involved. “It’s so complex, it’s a natural protection. You must be very well prepared to compete in E&P,” he says. “There are some very good Chinese companies that are working very well in Africa, but they don’t have a major share at the moment.”


The basic secret of E&P success, he says, is to keep it simple and lean, and that is as true in Africa as it is anywhere else. “The main challenge for big companies is to keep their expenditure under control, and really go back to the basics and work on exploration,” he says. “The real value is to discover your resource and develop it; it’s not to buy it.”


To hear more about eni in Africa & Beyond, watch KPMG’s video interview.


© 2014 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is a subsidiary of KPMG Europe LLP and a member fi rm of the KPMG network of independent member fi rms affi liated with KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.


Claudio has been COO of eni’s E&P Division since July 2008. He is currently President of Assomineraria and Vice President of Confi ndustria Energy. He was born in Milan in 1955. In 1979 he graduated in Physics at the Politecnico di Milano. He joined eni in 1981 as Oil & Gas Field Petroleum Engineering and Project Manager, for the development of North Sea, Libya, Nigeria and Congo. In 1990 he was appointed Head of Reservoir and Operating Activities for Italy. In 1994 he was named Managing Director of eni’s subsidiary in Congo and in 1998 Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, another subsidiary of eni.


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