The Italian oil and gas company Eni has unveiled its 2018-2021 strategic plan: the group will invest €7bn over the period, of which €1bn for green energy activities and R&D expenditure for the decarbonisation process. The company aims at reducing the emissions intensity of its upstream oil and gas activities by 43% by 2025 compared with 2014 and already reports a 15% decrease in 2017 (compared with 2014).
The group has identified 25 renewable projects with a total potential capacity of 220 MW, which could be developed on its industrial sites in 2021 and would reduce its overall energy consumption. Eni will focus its R&D efforts on solar power, energy storage, advanced biofuels, biomass and wind power. The group will also conduct research on the development of technologies for the production of energy from nuclear fusion, in partnership with MIT.
Eni will also commission the Gela biorefinery project by the end of 2018: the new refinery, along with Eni's Venice existing biorefinery, will help the group produce 1 Mt/year of green diesel by 2021. In addition, Eni is developing a new type of petrol composed of alternative fuels (5% bioethanol and 15% methanol) and plans to increase the use of methanol for gas transport uses, which will make it possible to achieve a significant reduction in emissions.