OREANDA-NEWS  The Italian government is working on the issue of nationalization of an oil refinery owned by Lukoil in the city of Priolo in Sicily, the Roman newspaper La Repubblica wrote on Tuesday.

"The government seems to have decided: the Priolo oil refinery, the most important in the country, can be saved only through state intervention. According to the sources involved in this operation, the Council of Ministers, which will meet on Thursday, will be called upon to make a decision on the nationalization of the enterprise in the province of Syracuse," the publication said.

The newspaper notes that this decision is dictated by the new EU sanctions against Russia, which provide for the gradual introduction of an embargo on oil imports from the Russian Federation from December 5. The Lukoil plant in Sicily processes Russian Urals oil.