European Reactions to Energy Crises: between Companies’ Flexibility and Political Constraints

The chapter explores the extent to which energy crises have impacted - both historically and recently - the role of energy companies in the energy transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable sources. The energy crises considered are: a) the 1973 oil crisis, b) the 1986 countershock and the Chernobyl disaster and c) the 2022 energy crisis linked to the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Although different under many aspects, all three crises forced energy companies – as well as Governments and supranational institutions such as the European Economic Community / European Union (EEC / EU) – to react to turbulent circumstances. The impact of the crises is therefore analysed considering three different levels and actors: the EEC/EU, the Italian government, and the main Italian energy company, the Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (National Hydrocarbon Agency, ENI). We contend that the latter is a particularly interesting case study that can shed light on the role that national oil companies have had, and continue to have, in oil-consuming countries. Established as a State company in 1953, ENI quickly became the “national champion” of Italian energy policy, signing treaties with oil-producing countries and cooperating with the Government to assure that Italy - a country lacking natural resources - had enough energy to meet its needs. In 1992, in trend with the wider changes in the global economy and with the development of a liberalized European-level energy market, ENI was transformed into a joint-stock company and partially privatised. By the beginning of the new millennium, it joined the majors as one of the leading international energy companies.