Italian energy company Eni SpA (E) said Thursday it has been in talks with the U.S. Department of Justice and Milan prosecutors regarding a graft probe in Nigeria.

"We have talked and have cooperated with the Department of Justice and Milan prosecutors over the probe," Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni told the annual shareholders' meeting in Rome.

He said if any of its employees, or former workers, were found to have taken part in the corruption scandal, Eni will seek to file lawsuits to protect its interests.

"We are following the matter with a lot of attention," said Scaroni. He added that there are still some employees in the group present from the events that took place between 1995 and 2004, although the vast majority had left.

Scaroni added that the Department of Justice investigation "may be closed in the next months." He declined to comment further.

The probe centers around TSKJ, a private company comprising Technip SA (1317.FR) of France; Snamprogetti, an affiliate of Eni; JGC Corporation of Japan (1963.TO) and KBR Inc. (KBR), which was spun off by Halliburton (HAL) two years ago.

In February, U.S. authorities said Halliburton and KBR agreed to pay $579 million in fines after pleading guilty to criminal charges for bribing Nigerian government officials for more than a decade.

The two companies admitted they paid millions of dollars to Nigerian government officials as part of a joint venture to win contracts worth more than $6 billion to build a liquified natural gas plant on Bonny Island.

According to the Department of Justice, KBR was part of a four-company joint venture - referring to TSKJ - that received the contracts. As part of its plea, KBR admitted to conspiring with those partners to promise and pay bribes.

Company Web site: www.eni.it

-By Liam Moloney, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 06 6976 6924; liam.moloney@dowjones.com