The sales agreement is with gas, energy and renewables company Italtrading. It covers Po Valley's initial commissioning period for the Sillaro and Castello gas fields, which are being brought into production progressively from mid 2009, and three years of full supply until September 2012.

"The sales agreement comes at a time of great uncertainty in the Western European gas supply situation created by the recent shut-off of Russian gas supply to the Ukraine," says Michael Masterman, chief