20110515
reuters

Italian oil firm Eni SpA expects the "Libyan problem" to be over in a year and is not worried for the longer term, Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said in an interview published on Monday.

Eni, the biggest foreign oil business operator in Libya, has said it expects the civil war in the North African nation to cut its production total for the full year after an almost 9 percent drop in the first quarter.

"Personally, I have no doubt that one year from now the Libyan problem will be behind us," Scaroni told the Financial Times.

He added: "I am still not worried about the future. I'm worried about the present because the political situation in Libya is difficult, there is no possibility of producing in Libya and, as a consequence, the only activity is to protect our installations there."

Scaroni said he had not the "smallest doubt" that once political order is re-established in Libya, Eni's position will be as strong as it has been in the past, whoever will be in charge, the newspaper said.

Eni gets about 13 percent of its oil and gas production from Libya.