Sources say that the Italian government is poised to support a new mandate for Eni CEO

Three sources said that Italy's Prime minister Giorgia Meoni was ready to support Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi in a bid to extend his tenure as the group's longest-serving leader for another three-year period.

Descalzi is 70 years old and has been Eni's chief executive officer since 2014. He began his career as a upstream and exploration specialist with extensive knowledge of Africa. One source said that the executive was available for another term.

Meloni, whose administration controls the group, with a stake of almost 32%, will be in charge at Eni’s shareholder meeting, scheduled for early May, when shareholders are expected to vote on the new management team.

A spokesman from?Eni stated that "these are decisions which are up to our shareholders and we therefore do not comment on them."

The Prime Minister's Office was unavailable to comment.

Bloomberg and Italian media have reported that Descalzi will be reappointed as the head of the energy group. Descalzi, who helped Rome replace Russian gas in response to Moscow's invasion against Ukraine, has now created low-carbon divisions within the oil and energy group. He also supervised opening of these ventures to investment firms and infrastructure funds.

Eni has been able to share the financial burden of developing Enilive's biofuel venture, Plenitude, its retail and renewable business and Eni’s carbon capture business with global partners who have deep pockets.

Included in this list are the U.S. investment company?KKR, Swiss asset managers Energy Infrastructure Partners, Ares Management, and BlackRock Infrastructure Fund GIP. Analysts said that the 52 billion euro group's top management will have to face a number of challenges in the coming three years, including supporting growth at new units while ensuring the returns promised to investment partners. (Reporting and editing by Keith Weir.)

(source: Reuters)