Eni says cost cutting drive did not lead to Florence fuel depot blast

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian energy group Eni on Friday rejected a claim by prosecutors looking into an explosion at an Eni fuel depot near Florence, which killed five people, that it had been trying to save money by allowing fuel to load during maintenance work.

The prosecutors in the Tuscan city of Prato said in a statement on Wednesday that the explosion in December was caused by Eni allowing maintenance work at the same time as fuel loading operations in order to increase productivity at the site and save money.

They estimated that Eni would have lost 255,000 euros ($276,216.00) if the fuel loading had been halted on the day of the accident, which they said was foreseeable and avoidable.

Eni said in an emailed statement on Friday that stopping fuel loading operations between 0800 and 1400 GMT on the day of the accident, as suggested by prosecutors, would not have entailed an economic loss, but only a reorganisation of the activities in another time slot or later in the day.

The prosecutors in Prato have opened an investigation into Eni and seven of its employees over the accident.

Under Italian law, a company can be held liable for some offences committed by its staff.

Two employees of a maintenance firm who were working when the accident happened were also put under investigation.

State-controlled Eni said on Wednesday that it was fully cooperating with judicial authorities to help identify the causes of the explosion.

($1 = 0.9232 euros)

(Reporting by Francesca Landini; Editing by Susan Fenton)