(Repeats April 14 story with no changes to text)
By Stephen Jewkes and Oleg Vukmanovic
MILAN, April 14 (Reuters) - Claudio Descalzi faces adelicate balancing act as he takes the helm of Italian oil majorEni - guaranteeing Italy's gas supply by nurturingrelations with Russia, while exploring new drilling frontiers inAfrica and Asia to boost profit.
The Italian government's choice of Descalzi, a longtime oilman with more than 30 years experience at the group, gives Eni aleader who is likely to push forward his predecessor PaoloScaroni's efforts to focus the company on its nuts and boltsbusiness of finding and mining new oil and gas fields.
That could also mean selling down the company's 43 percentstake in Saipem to get the oil service group's debtoff its balance sheet and raise more cash to invest.
The bald and burly Descalzi is one of the most respectedmanagers in the so-called E&P, or Exploration and Production,part of the oil business. Royal Dutch Shell recentlyoffered Descalzi a job to become the head of their E&P business,but the Italian government - which owns 30 percent of Eni -persuaded him to stay with the promise of the Italian company'stop job, according to people familiar with the matter.
Yet the 59-year-old physics graduate will inevitably have tofocus much of his attention on the more geopolitical aspects ofthe job.
Recent tensions over Russia's seizure of Crimea have revivedfears over energy supplies across the European continent. Thoseconcerns loom especially large in Italy, which along withGermany is the biggest customer for Russian gas.
Italy depends on imports to meet 90 percent of the gas itneeds to heat its homes and fuel its industry. With no developednuclear industry, the only alternative to generate power isexpensive subsidised renewable energy.
In 2013 Russia supplied Italy with around half of its gas.With Libyan production faltering due to civil war and volumesfrom Algeria, also a big supplier, dwindling, flows from Russiaare being cranked up even higher. At the same time, RussianPresident Vladimir Putin has warned Europe that without urgentfinancial aid Ukraine may default on its gas debt and prompt asupply cutoff.
Prime minister Matteo Renzi recently said Eni was crucial toItaly's foreign and intelligence policy.
People who have worked with Descalzi say he is a tenaciousmanager who can negotiate tough with Moscow if needed.
"He's a fighter, a front man, with a real physical presence.He won't shy away from confrontation," says a person who hasworked with the manager.
Those are qualities he will have to use in Kashagan, thegiant oil field where Eni was operator in the first phase. Thefield has been dogged by damaging delays, prompting some peopleto question Eni's ability to manage large complex projects.
AFRICA HAND
Descalzi spent much of his early career in Africa, includingin Libya, Nigeria and Congo. He is married to a Congolese woman.After taking over as head of Exploration and Production in 2008,he has commuted between London and Milan, working closely withScaroni to position Eni on the more lucrative exploration andproduction side of the business. He has streamlined productionprocesses and strengthened the company's portfolio.
In particular, Descalzi has helped the group to spread itswings in Africa. Eni is the biggest foreign oil and gas operatorin Africa, traditionally focusing much of its activity in thenorth, including war-torn Libya. Descalzi has expanded insub-Saharan areas, including Mozambique.
"Mozambique is the jewel in Eni's crown, the group's biggestever discovery and Descalzi has had a lot to do with that," saidMediobanca oil analyst Andrea Scauri.
Still, any new resources from Africa are unlikely to findtheir way into Italian households and businesses. That's becauseEni, like others, is channelling gas from new markets to Asia.
For example, as part of a long-term, multi-billion euro gasdeal renegotiation in 2012, Eni agreed to convert half thepipeline supply it receives from Algerian state-run Sonatrachinto greater numbers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes, twosources with knowledge of the matter said. Eni now sells gasinitially earmarked for Italy to Asia and splits the profit withthe Algeria firm.
Even if the gas was not diverted in part to Asia, there arewider concerns that Algeria's future production could be atrisk, posing a problem for Italy and other European countries.
A growing population and artificially low energy prices haveresulted in acute oil and gas shortages and power blackoutsacross Egypt, forcing a cut in exports. Analysts say Algeria maybe the next in line. Existing long-term gas supply deals betweenAlgeria and Eni are due to expire in 2019 and it's unclear howmany will be renewed.
The result, says Claudio Gianotti, head of gas and powertrading group World Energy, is that Italy's energy needs willundoubtedly be top of the agenda of Eni's new chief. And"without gas from Algeria and Russia it's impossible for Italyto meet those needs."
(Editing by Alessandra Galloni and David Evans)
