Memo: Antitrust: Commission initiates proceedings against the ENI Group concerning suspected foreclosure of Italian gas supply markets

The European Commission has decided to open anti-trust proceedings against the Italian energy company ENI. The case arises out of the inspection carried out in 2006 on ENI premises and premises of ENI subsidiaries in Italy, Austria and Germany (see MEMO/06/205). The Commission proceedings focus on behaviour by the ENI Group which it suspects may have been aimed at exclusion of potential competitors from Italian gas supply markets (i.e. so-called market foreclosure).