Eni to Spend $8.4 Billion in Italy, $1.2 Billion on Renewables

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Italy's Eni SpA (NYSE:E) has joined the growing ranks of oil and gas majors committing more money to green energy with a commitment to investing seven billion euro ($8.4 billion) in Italy over the next four years, including 1 billion euro ($1.2 billion) in "green activities."

The company's Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi recently presented the 2018-2021 Strategic Plan covering its progress regarding safety, its green activities in Italy and ongoing progress in research and development. The company aims the bulk of its green energy budget into its so-called Progetto Italia, which aims to build renewable energy projects on some of Eni's reclaimed industrial sites. Eni subsidiary Syndial, which manages reclamation activities, has made available 2,000 hectares out of a total of 3,000. The company has identified 25 projects in this area with a total potential capacity of 220 megawatts (MW), which is equal to 0.4 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year of electricity, which will come online in 2021.The renewable energy produced will mainly be used by Eni's industrial assets to help it reduce its energy consumption. The company will concentrate its research mainly in solar power, energy storage, advanced biofuels, biomass and wind power, and in the development of technologies for the production of energy from nuclear fusion, a joint project with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Boston).

Recently, Industrial Info reported on the planned "energy transition" of Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (The Hague, Netherlands), which aims to spend up to $2 billion per year to 2020 as part of its transition to lower-carbon energy. For additional information, see April 25, 2018, article - Shell Outlines Energy Transition.

"We operate in tens of countries around the world, but our roots are here in Italy, and it is here that we see the potential for investing more," said Descalzi. "In fact, Italy is the country in which we are planning to invest the most: 7 billion euro over the next four years, of which 1 billion euro has been earmarked for green activities, including research and development expenditure for the decarbonisation process".

Descalzi addressed the issue of safety across the company's activities, as well as their environmental compatibility: "In 2017 we confirmed our record performance in terms of safety with 0.33 cases per million hours worked (Total Recordable Injury Rate), a 7% improvement compared with 2016. In terms of our environmental performance, we reduced the emissions intensity of our upstream activities by 3% compared with 2016 and by 15% compared with 2014, making significant progress towards the target of a 43% reduction by 2025 compared with 2014."

Eni continues to invest heavily in the creation of bio-products in the downstream sector, with Descalzi claiming Eni is the first company to have converted a traditional oil refinery into a bio-refinery in Venice at Porto Marghera. By the end of the year, the company will complete the conversion of a plant in Gela. Together the plants will produce 1 million tons of green diesel per year by 2021, making Eni one of Europe's leading producers. The company has also launched a series of projects related to green chemicals, such as intermediate products from vegetable oil and experimental plantations of Guayule for the production of natural rubber.

On the oil and gas front, Eni said production was up by 4% in the first quarter of 2018, from 1.795 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) for the same period last year. Last week, the company brought on-stream the second production unit of the Zohr gas project, located offshore Egypt within the Shorouk Block. Commissioning the T-1 production unit will double the installed capacity at the project to 800 million standard cubic feet per day, translating to 150,000 boe per day. Discovered in 2015, the Zohr field is claimed as the largest gas discovery made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea.

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