The government currently owns a combined 32.4% of Eni, which is expected to increase to more than 34% as a result of the share repurchase programme. Once the buyback is completed, the Treasury could potentially sell 4% of Eni, which is worth around 2 billion euros at current market prices. Rivals Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM ), Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) and Shell (LON: RDSa ) earlier this month beat profit expectations on a mix of strong trading results and higher oil and gas production.