By Stefano Bernabei
CAPRI, Italy, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest utility Enel which owns Spanish utility Endesa is working to define which high-voltage assets it will have to sell in Spain, Enel Chief Executive Fulvio Conti said on Saturday.
Spain's has ruled that utilities such as Endesa and Iberdrola must sell their high tension assets to Spanish electricity grid operator REE before July 2010 so that responsibility for all operations, and problems like power cuts, is in the hands of one body.
'As soon as we define a perimeter (of the deal) we will be able to do it,' Conti told reporters on the sidelines of a conference when asked about the timing of the sale.
'We continue to work on the definition of the parameters to ratify (the deal) with competent authorities,' Conti said.
He said Italy, heavily dependent on gas imports, needed a new pipeline to bring more gas from Russia and brushed off recent U.S. concerns that the South Steam line would increase Italy's dependence on Russia.
'We import 85 percent of energy resources and 90 percent of gas, mostly from Algeria and Russia. We have always done it, the gas is there. And if it will come from another pipeline, the Americans will have to accept that,' Conti said.
Russia's gas giant Gazprom and Italy's oil and gas major Eni plan to build the South Stream pipeline to bring Russia's gas to Europe bypassing Ukraine. Moscow wrangling with Kiev over gas transit disrupted flows in the past years.
'The South Stream is necessary. It is important for us because it will help avoid another cold and darkness crisis linked to tensions between Russia and Ukraine,' Conti said.
Details of another major gas pipeline project, Galsi, which will bring gas from Algeria to Italy, will be defined at a high-level meeting between the two countries in the next few weeks, Conti said.
Italy'sand Algeria's industry ministers are likely to meet at the end of November on Italy's island of Sardinia and discuss timing of the Galsi project, a source close to the matter said.
Conti also said Enel was working on a retail bond to be issued in 2010, confirming earlier announced plans.
(Writing by Svetlana Kovalyova) Keywords: ENEL/ (svetlana.kovalyova@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 661 29450; Reuters Messaging: svetlana.kovalyova.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
CAPRI, Italy, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest utility Enel which owns Spanish utility Endesa is working to define which high-voltage assets it will have to sell in Spain, Enel Chief Executive Fulvio Conti said on Saturday.
Spain's has ruled that utilities such as Endesa and Iberdrola must sell their high tension assets to Spanish electricity grid operator REE before July 2010 so that responsibility for all operations, and problems like power cuts, is in the hands of one body.
'As soon as we define a perimeter (of the deal) we will be able to do it,' Conti told reporters on the sidelines of a conference when asked about the timing of the sale.
'We continue to work on the definition of the parameters to ratify (the deal) with competent authorities,' Conti said.
He said Italy, heavily dependent on gas imports, needed a new pipeline to bring more gas from Russia and brushed off recent U.S. concerns that the South Steam line would increase Italy's dependence on Russia.
'We import 85 percent of energy resources and 90 percent of gas, mostly from Algeria and Russia. We have always done it, the gas is there. And if it will come from another pipeline, the Americans will have to accept that,' Conti said.
Russia's gas giant Gazprom and Italy's oil and gas major Eni plan to build the South Stream pipeline to bring Russia's gas to Europe bypassing Ukraine. Moscow wrangling with Kiev over gas transit disrupted flows in the past years.
'The South Stream is necessary. It is important for us because it will help avoid another cold and darkness crisis linked to tensions between Russia and Ukraine,' Conti said.
Details of another major gas pipeline project, Galsi, which will bring gas from Algeria to Italy, will be defined at a high-level meeting between the two countries in the next few weeks, Conti said.
Italy'sand Algeria's industry ministers are likely to meet at the end of November on Italy's island of Sardinia and discuss timing of the Galsi project, a source close to the matter said.
Conti also said Enel was working on a retail bond to be issued in 2010, confirming earlier announced plans.
(Writing by Svetlana Kovalyova) Keywords: ENEL/ (svetlana.kovalyova@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 661 29450; Reuters Messaging: svetlana.kovalyova.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
