Oil giants rush to help Italy's Meloni curb energy costs with fuel price caps

By Anna Uras and Giuseppe Fonte

ROME, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Kuwait energy firm Q8 will introduce a price cap on Italian petrol pump prices for one month starting from October 1, it said on Tuesday, following similar commitments by Italy's Eni ENI.MI and Azerbaijan's SOCAR.

The moves have been interpreted by market analysts as a bid to curry favour with the Rome government and deter it from imposing a windfall tax on energy company profits, something proposed by Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti and other leading politicians.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is scrambling to find resources to help families and firms cope with soaring energy costs, as she prepares the government's 2027 budget to be presented in October, her last before an election due next year.

Q8 Italy said in a statement its cap was designed to generate "tangible benefits" for motorists, but did not specify what price it would set.

"I would like to thank Kuwait and the group that operates the Q8 stations in Italy for heeding the Italian government's call to energy companies to cap fuel prices," Meloni said in a statement.

Since Monday SOCAR and Eni have been capping diesel prices at the pump at €2.19 ($2.48) per litre and petrol at €1.99 per ​litre.

Brokers Equita and Intermonte wrote in reports to clients that the initiative could reduce the risk of new taxes on windfall profits for Eni and other companies in the energy sector.

The finance ministers of Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland and Austria are pushing for an EU-wide windfall tax on energy companies, warning that consumers are facing one of the biggest oil supply shocks in decades which is fuelling voter discontent over rising living costs.

Giorgetti has not ruled out introducing a domestic windfall tax rather than waiting for a joint initiative.

Italy's National Consumers Union welcomed Q8's move, saying that around half of Italy's network of pump stations would now be imposing a price cap.

However, the initiative by the three groups has so far had little impact in lowering average fuel prices, according to industry ministry ​data.

Self-service prices for petrol stood at €2.126 per litre on Tuesday, compared with €2.159 on Sunday, while diesel prices had also eased marginally to €2.335 from €2.377.

Prices on motorway networks were €2.180 for petrol and €2.383 for diesel.

($1 = 0.8816 euros)