By Sarah Sloat

The chief executive of Italy's Eni Spa (ENI.MI) has denied allegations that he failed to disclose a potential conflict of interest in Congo, the energy company said late Thursday.

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said he "firmly rejects the alleged accusation" after being served a notice by Milanese prosecutors relating to a potential conflict of interest between Eni's Congo unit and the Petroservice group, a supplier.

"The transactions between Eni Congo and the company Petroservice were never the subject of my consideration and decision, as fully outside my role," Mr. Descalzi said in a statement.

The company didn't provide additional detail on the allegations. Eni is active in Congo mainly in exploration and production onshore and offshore, and also has activities in the chemicals sector.

Eni said is has concluded independent investigations in the matter that "excluded any breaches and behaviors in favor or against Eni, aimed at benefitting service suppliers, and in particular Petroservice, for the relevance of this case."

Eni said it had shared the conclusions of those investigations with prosecutors.

"The investigations undertaken confirm that the tenders won by Petroservice took place within a competitive framework and in substantial respect of the existing tendering procedures," Eni said.

Write to Sarah Sloat at sarah.sloat@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 27, 2019 01:59 ET (05:59 GMT)

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