Italy's energy minister signalled on 4 June that the government is set to grant conditional Golden Power approval for Ludoil's acquisition of ISAB, the 320kbd Priolo Gargallo refinery in Sicily, subject to final conditions and antitrust review. 1 ISAB is one of the Mediterranean's largest refineries and a strategic supply asset for Italy, which is why Rome's foreign-investment screen sits over the deal. This is the first concrete movement on a sale that has survived six OFAC rollovers of the underlying licence.
Golden Power is Italy's regime for vetting or blocking foreign acquisitions of strategic assets, and a conditional approval lowers the risk of an Italian veto without closing anything. The transaction still depends on the US sanctions calendar. GL 131F authorises only negotiation of the sale through 27 June , and OFAC has issued no separate transaction licence, so no funds can yet change hands.
Two gates therefore stand between Ludoil and ISAB, and they answer to different masters. Rome can condition or block the deal under Golden Power independently of any US licence, while Washington controls whether money can legally move at all. Italy secured a 30-day EU derogation for ISAB back in 2012 and could seek one again if 27 June approaches with no OFAC transaction licence in hand, a procedural escape hatch that would buy time without resolving the underlying sanctions question.
