Italy Agrees With Further Iran Sanctions

ROME (Dow Jones)--Prime Minister Mario Monti said Thursday the Italian government agrees with further sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, especially those targeting revenue from the sale of oil, as long as they exclude oil supplies to Italy's biggest energy company which constitute repayment for work the firm has carried out in the Islamic republic.

"There is strong concern on the advancement of Iran's nuclear program reaching a point of non-return and the strategy, which Italy agrees with, is the urgency to strengthen instruments of pressure on Iran," said Monti at an end-of-year press conference in Rome.

Italy imports around 13% of its oil needs from Iran, Monti added.

The only condition Italy asks for its support of sanctions hitting Iran's ability to raise revenue from the sale of oil is that it excludes supplies to Italian energy company Eni SpA (E) from Iran for its work in the country, said the prime minister.

These are "credits" that Eni is due, he said.

At the start of December, Eni's Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said he was worried about a possible Iranian oil embargo complicating payments it gets from Iran in crude shipments.

Scaroni said Eni was still owed nearly $2 billion by the National Iranian Oil Co. in crude shipments. Eni is about 30% owned by the Italian government.

-By Liam Moloney, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 06 6976 6924; [email protected]