ROME -- CEO of the Italian multinational oil and gas company ENI Claudio Descalzi met Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Cairo, despite Italy-Egypt hostilities related to the Giulio Regeni case, Il Fatto Quotidiano wrote Thursday.

 In December, a delegation of Egyptian magistrates visited the head Roman prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone and handed over of a series of investigative documents about the Giulio Regeni case, the murdered Camrbidge University researcher from Italy who was kidnapped in Egypt.

 Hostile relations between the two nations have clearly softened further -- enough to not get in the way of the gas and petrol business.

 ENI is the leading energy company in this Arabic country, with investments that in 2016 equalled 2.7 billion dollars. In their meeting Wednesday, Descalzi and Al-Sisi examined the development of the Zohr and Nooros off-shore gas deposits, production from which is meant to start in 2017. These will produce about 25 million cubic metres a day.

  nkd