Venezuela will owe Eni $3.3 billion by the end of 2025 according to an annual report

Eni owed Venezuelan oil company PDVSA $3.3 billion at the end of last year. This included around $1 billion in accrued interest. The Italian company revealed this in its annual report.

Eni and Spanish oil firm Repsol produce gas in their jointly-owned Perla offshore project - the only offshore gas project active in Venezuela. The output is purchased by PDVSA, primarily for power generation at home.

Venezuelan group defaulted on its payments and accumulated debts to Eni and Repsol. These companies were unable to get in-kind payments from PDVSA due to tightening U.S. sanctions.

The sanctions cut PDVSA from the international financial systems and prohibited it from using dollars for commercial transactions.

Eni reported that the situation had improved since the beginning of this year after Venezuela passed a partial hydrocarbons reform and Washington eased sanctions to allow certain energy companies operating there.

Eni added that these'recent developments' could increase its chances of recovering claims against PDVSA.

Eni said that it had also been in contact with U.S. officials about its possible involvement in a "relaunch" of Venezuela's petroleum sector.

Repsol said last month that Venezuela owed it 4.55 billion euro ($5.28 billion). $1 = 0.8625 Euros (Reporting and editing by Francesca Landini, Cristina Carlevaro, Joe Bavier).

(source: Reuters)