The Tunisian daily newspaper Alhourria reports that the pipeline's capacity would be increased from its current 27.4bn cum/yr to about 33.9bn cum. Behind the agreement, on the Italian side is the fact that the country is suffering from severe gas supply constraints. Italy's own natural resources can meet only about 10% of its total needs, so it relies on imports. With the economy being a major factor in the latest elections, much attention is being paid to expanding supply. Italian oil and gas company Eni had pushed back plans to expand capacity on its pipeline across Tunisia from March 2007, drawing a reprimand (and a record $353.8m fine) from Italy's antitrust body. The authority said in February that Eni should make an extra 3.2bn cum of capacity available on the line from April 1, 2008, and a second tranche of 3.3bn cum from October 1, 2008. Eni, which gets about 20bn cum of its gas supplies from Algeria and Libya, now says it will boost capacity as fast as possible and will appeal the fine. On the Tunisian side, exploration and production of gas is carried out by international companies, in particular AGIP, British Gas, and CMS. The Entreprise Tunisienne d'Activité Pétrolières, or ETAP, is the public company in charge of the implementation of the exploration policy and the production of petroleum and gas, and is also responsible for gas imports and the management of taxes arising from gas transport on behalf of the state. The Société Tunisienne de l'Electricité et du Gaz (STEG) also produces, transports, and distributes gas, along with electricity. The company was a monopoly until 1996, when the power generation market was opened to the private sector. Until 1996, gas production was limited to small quantities coming from the el-Borma oilfield. This was supplemented by the quantities taken from the Trans-Med gas pipeline in lieu of import taxes. The first section of the pipeline was completed in 1994. Recent developments in the exploitation of gas, however, have made Tunisia increasingly self-sufficient; good news for a country that is trying to shift from its traditionally agriculture-based economy to once more focused on energy, mining, tourism, and manufacturing.