Eni is a strange beast, as befits a company with a six-legged dog for a logo. Half of the Italian energy company is a fast-growing oil and gas exploration outfit; the other a classic dividend-paying utility. This structure is anomalous. Elsewhere in Europe, companies such as Total, Shell and Repsol pump oil and gas. Downstream utilities such as Gaz de France, Eon or Enagas distribute it. There is little reason for Italy to be different. Eni’s recent dividend cut also shows the model has reached its limits. Eni should be broken up.

Huge amounts of value would be released. Analysts’ sum-of-the-parts calculations routinely value Eni at one and a half times its current €65bn market capitalisation. Yet even more could lie inside. Since the break-up of British Gas, shares in National Grid, BG Group and Centrica have risen tenfold.