Italy's new gas bourse may struggle-traders

* Eni's dominant position the main obstacle for new bourse

* Wide range of contracts needed to attract traders

By Svetlana Kovalyova

MILAN, July 13 (Reuters) - Italy's long-awaited launch of a gas bourse is a key step toward boosting trading but will succeed only if strong competition cuts the dominant position of oil and gas major Eni (ENI.MI), energy market operators said.

Italy aims to start the bourse within six months to increase market transparency, encourage competition between operators and trim consumers' energy bills. As in many European countries, the gas market is largely based on long-term bilateral contracts.

Eni accounts for about 40 percent of the country's wholesale gas market, according to energy regulator AEEG.

"Clearly, the presence of an operator which controls one side of the market will be an obstacle to the bourse reaching its goals," said Flavio Battista, in charge of gas trading at energy partnership Sinergie Italiane, which includes some local utilities.

Eni declined to comment on the gas bourse.

Italy relies on natural gas imports to cover more than 85 percent of its demand, most for power generation. More than 90 percent of imports come via pipelines with Eni by far the biggest importer.

"The dominant position of the incumbent is a structural thing ... The fundamentals will not change (with the bourse's launch)," said Paolo Luca Ghislandi, general secretary of Italy's energy traders' association AIGET.

To chip away at the position of one dominant supplier, the new bourse needs new independent gas suppliers to change the fundamentals of supply and demand and boost overall liquidity to increase trading opportunities, traders said.

At the moment, there are a few such players on the scene. Italy's second-biggest power utility Edison (EDN.MI) has built gas muscle by participating in major infrastructure projects. They include two pipelines and a terminal to import liquefied natural gas (LNG), expected to be fully operating from October.

Other Italian utilities are seeking to strike direct deals with major foreign suppliers, such as Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM), to enter the market.

EYEING WIDE RANGE OF INSTRUMENTS