With a Dpcm, the ministries of enterprises and that of the environment and energy security declare the complex of plants owned by the Isab company to be of national strategic interest «taking into account the sector in which it operates, the number of employees and the importance that production assumes for the nation’s energy autonomy”. The decree, reads a note from Mimit, was signed by the Prime Minister on a proposal from the Ministry of Enterprise in agreement with the Minister of the Environment. In the dpcm “the purification plants of Priolo Gargallo and Melilli are recognized as capital assets of the industrial plant, because they are necessary infrastructures to ensure the production continuity of the plant”. The decree was sent to the competent bodies and will be operational after registration by the Court of Auditors.
The decree also establishes that in order to contain the risks of environmental damage and to ensure production continuity, Mimit must adopt a decree within 30 days in agreement with the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, having consulted the Minister of Health, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport and the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra) to balance the need for continuity of production activity and the protection of employment, health and the environment. The coordination measures are also arranged, in agreement with the Sicilian Region, for any interventions that may be necessary to give a solution to the environmental issues inherent in the purification plants. The Priolo plant is owned by the Swiss company Litasco, controlled by the Russians of Lukoil, and is a petrochemical complex that combines refining, gasification and electricity cogeneration plants, consisting of three interconnected production sites. It is one of the largest industrial sites in Europe and negotiations are underway for the sale to Goi Energy, a company of the Cypriot fund Argus, and whose CEO Michael Bobrov is the majority shareholder of the Israeli energy group Bazan. This is an operation worth 1.5-2 billion euros.