End of a Feud

In Italy, where family feuds are common, an uncommon corporate vendetta has raged for a decade between E.N.I., the state oil monopoly, and Gulf Oil's Gulf Italia subsidiary. The grudge began after E.N.I, prospected unsuccessfully for oil around Ragusa in Sicily --and Gulf Italia, moving into the same area, brought in 50 wells. This victory by private enterprise so infuriated the late Enrico Mattei, E.N.I.'s leftist president, that he set out to drive Gulf Italia from Sicily. The Italian left, attacking foreign investors in general, jabbed especially at Gulf Italia's vice president and operating head, Prince Nicolo Pignatelli Aragona Cortes, scion of a noble family that claims Pope Innocent XII and Mexico's Conqueror Hernando Cortes in its lineage. Pignatelli seemed an easy target: he graces Roman society's lavish dinner tables, is a jet-set sportsman, and can be tough in business: when his Ragusa field was mechanized, he fired 700 of his 850 Sicilian workers.

Last week, to the astonishment of most Italian businessmen, the long feud between E.N.I, and Gulf Italia ended, and the two protagonists prepared to join in a $150 million oil deal. Nicky Pignatelli, 40, is no man to run from a fight; he had held off the left by forcefully debating Mattei face to face, once successfully sued a Communist newspaper for libel after it accused Gulf Italia of using improperly obtained government surveys to locate its oil. On the other hand, the prince is not inclined to fight needlessly when a deal can be made. E.N.I.'s pipelines and service stations stretch from England to Ethiopia, but the state monopoly is short on crude to fill its refinery capacities, which will soon reach about 21 million tons annually. Gulf, like its competitors in the Middle East, has an excess of crude petroleum to work off, and Prince Pignatelli reasoned that E.N.I, would buy some of the excess if he could make the deal attractive enough.

In return for E.N.I.'s purchase of 12.5 million tons of crude over a five-year period, Pignatelli offered to let E.N.I, operate and market the output of Gulfs Ragusa field, which had long been the main cause of friction between the two companies. E.N.I, bought the deal. Last week, as he waited for the formal signing, Nicky Pignatelli happily tooled his red Ferrari around Rome, where he likes to drive through the piazzas at high speeds. "Many princes are given them early," he said of the car. "I waited till 40 to get mine. I think I've earned it."

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