Photo: Official website of the Government of Italy

BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 29. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed the Q8 company's decision to join the call to cap fuel prices in the country and highlighted SOCAR's contribution to this effort.

This was announced by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on her official X page.

In her statement, Meloni thanked Kuwait and the group operating "Q8" service stations in Italy for responding to the government's appeal to energy companies to lower fuel prices.

"Following the decisions by Eni and SOCAR, today came another significant sign of consideration for Italian families from Q8," the statement said.

Meanwhile, recently State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and Italian company Eni S.p.A. have exchanged a Protocol on the completion of the transaction under which SOCAR acquired a 10% stake in the Baleine oil and gas field development project in Côte d’Ivoire.

According to SOCAR, following the completion of the transaction, the project partners' stakes are distributed as follows: Eni — 37.25%, Vitol — 30%, Côte d’Ivoire’s national oil and gas company Petroci — 22.75%, and SOCAR — 10%.

"The acquisition of the stake will provide SOCAR with access to Africa's upstream sector and will become part of the company's long-term strategy to expand its global exploration and production activities," the company said.

On September 27, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in a post on her official page on X, thanked President Ilham Aliyev for the decision to cap fuel prices across Italy.

“Following Eni, IP has also chosen to cap fuel prices across the entire national territory. This is an important signal of attention to Italian families, confirming that it is possible to make a concrete contribution to containing the rising cost of fuel. I wish to thank the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, for this gesture of attention that strengthens our cooperation, and the president of SOCAR, Rovshan Najaf,” she wrote.