Reports from FT say that Eni, the Italian oil and gas company, is considering a return to trading.

Italian energy major Eni ?is weighing re-entering oil ?and ?gas trading ?as it seeks the outsized returns enjoyed by BP, Shell and TotalEnergies, amid geopolitically-driven price volatility, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

Claudio Descalzi,?Eni's Chief Executive, told FT that he stopped trading in 2019, but other large companies were still traders. "BP Shell and Total are big traders, making billions of dollars from it."

Descalzi stated that he has held preliminary discussions with several commodity companies, including Mercuria about forming a joint-venture.

"It's not in our DNA." We're not very commercial. "I thought that to be commercial we would need a partner to understand the business," said he.

Descalzi said that the trading unit will operate independently of Eni.

Bloomberg News reported that Eni was in talks with Mercuria in January about a possible partnership in commodity trading.

Vitol is the largest commodity trading house in the world in terms of volume sold. In '2025, Vitol will acquire stakes in Eni's West African assets.

(source: Reuters)