ROME, April 12. /TASS/. The Italian government has approved the sale of its Lukoil oil refinery on the island of Sicily to G.O.I. Energy, a source at the ministry for enterprises and products "made in Italy" told TASS on Wednesday. The deal hinges on the condition that the authorities track a number of activities of the enterprise, including the origin of the oil used at the refinery, the source added.

The source confirmed that the Council of Ministers adopted a decree on the sale of the ISAB refinery in Priolo to the G.O.I. energy foundation, taking into consideration the so-called "golden power" in relation to strategic facilities.

"Thus, the transaction is permitted subject to a number of requirements, including control over the origin of oil supplies, as well as maintaining production capacity and employment levels, guaranteeing investment in the development of the enterprise and maintaining its environmental friendliness," the source said.

In January, Lukoil announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell the ISAB refinery in Italy to G.O.I. Energy, which formed a partnership with trader Trafigura. ISAB S.r.L. owns a large petrochemical complex in Italy, which includes a refinery, a gasification unit and a power plant.

The Italian authorities feared that refineries in Sicily would be shut down due to problems with the maritime supply of crude oil from Russia after EU sanctions went into effect. According to some reports, ISAB covers 22% of Italy's needs for automotive fuel. Closing the plant could lead to the loss of up to 10,000 jobs.

Earlier, the Financial Times reported that the US authorities expressed concern about the agreements reached, which led to more scrutiny from the Italian side on the terms of the deal.

G.O.I. Energy denied any ties with Russia, indicating that the company's investors are representatives of Greece, Israel and Cyprus. However, the Italian media reported that among these representatives there are immigrants from Russia.

From the very start, the Italian government declared its right to exercise special powers, since the refinery is of strategic interest to Italy. After restrictions on Russian oil went into effect on December 5 last year, the Italian government took the refinery under temporary management. As follows from the only interview with the then general director of the refinery, Yevgeny Manyakhin, oil was purchased for cash and its reserves were enough to guarantee the continuation of production for several months.