By Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
Eni’s voluntary sustainability report has described the company’s contributions to a just transition that ensures access to efficient and sustainable energy, which shares the social and economic benefits of the path towards net zero emissions by 2050 with employees, suppliers, communities and costumers using an inclusive and transparent approach.
Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (Eni), which means National Hydrocarbons Board, is an Italian energy company that primarily engages in the exploration and production of petroleum, natural gas and petrochemicals. It was established in 1953 and its headquarters is in Rome, Italy. The company operates through six segments, which includes Exploration and Production, Gas and Power, Refining and Marketing, Trading, Engineering and Construction, as well as Chemicals.
Claudio Descalzi, Eni’s Chief Executive Officer, expressed that in addressing the challenges the firm faces in the energy sector, the company keeps its priorities firmly on track with an ongoing commitment to promote energy access, local development and environmental protection.
According to him, the success of Eni’s strategy cannot be achieved without collaboration with its stakeholders, who range from private individuals to the public sector, international organizations, civil society associations, and research institutes.
In his own words, “Today, more than ever, it is necessary to pool resources and human capital, through a broad vision that allows us to align our common goals, to reduce geographical gaps and promote global human progress.”
With respect to the carbon neutrality strategy, Eni has remained firm in its commitment towards achieving net zero emissions by the year 2050.
The company also verified all its decarbonization targets, which are anchored on sound investments. With this, Eni has been able to attain a 17 per cent reduction in Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, when compared to 2018 levels.
It has also continued implementing the measures that are necessary to achieve Scope 1 and 2 net zero emissions in the Upstream sector by 2030. This has been achieved by investing in emission-reduction technologies, as well as developing low-carbon projects.
Earlier in 2023, Eni launched the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel that will be used for production from the Baleine Field in Côte d’Ivoire, which is the most important discovery ever made in the country and also the first net zero development for Scope 1 and 2 emissions in Africa.
In Eni’s strategy, the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a fundamental reference for conducting activities in the countries of operation. For instance, agri-business projects embody the basic pillars of Eni’s approach for the just transition, an energy transition with a strong innovative component combined with a concrete focus on the social dimension.
The company says it is committed to ensuring that the decarbonization process delivers prospects that are capable of transforming existing activities and developing new production chains with significant perspectives in the countries where the firm operates.
In 2022, the first cargo of vegetable oil that was produced in Kenya, not competing with the food production chain, but gotten from waste and raw materials produced on degraded land, was delivered to Eni’s bio-refining plant in Gela. This had substantial positive impacts on employment and local development and the company intends to replicate the model in other countries.
Eni, in order to achieve a just transition, paid particular attention to initiatives that will promote access to energy and education in its countries of operation. These initiatives include projects to facilitate access to clean cooking in Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Ghana. In Côte d’Ivoire, more than 20,000 cooking stoves were distributed within just six months and more than 100,000 beneficiaries were reached.
In Nigeria, the company improved citizens access to water through the commissioning of 22 water wells powered with photovoltaic (pv) systems.
Eni has also promoted the right to education in its countries of operation such as Congo, Ghana, Iraq, Mexico, Mozambique, and Egypt, where it opened the Zohr Applied Technology School in order to significantly increase the number of youths with access to upgraded technical and professional skills in the fields of both energy and technology.
In Nigeria, Eni began activities in 1962 through a wholly-owned subsidiary known as the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), and the company has been active in hydrocarbon exploration and production and in power production since then.
When Eni began activities in Nigeria, it offered the Federal Government the option of participating in the firm’s Nigerian operations in the event of a commercial discovery. Eni was the first International Oil and Gas Company operating in Nigeria to make such an offer.
The offer was later taken by the Federal Government in 1973 and it set the stage for the current Joint Venture (JV) arrangement in the industry.
Eni’s activities in Nigeria have grown over the years, leading to its establishment of two other subsidiaries within the country. These subsidiaries are known as the Agip Energy and Natural Resources (AENR), which was established in 1980; and the Nigerian Agip Exploration (NAE), which was established in 1996. They were established in order to concentrate on the company’s activities in shallow water and deep offshore areas.
In addition to its activities in the upstream sector, Eni has also made critical investments in Nigeria’s gas and power sectors, with equal participation in both the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) (NLNG) Limited and Brass LNG Limited, with about 10.4 per cent and 20.8 per cent investment shares respectively. The firm has the reputation of being the first international oil and gas company operating in Nigeria to invest in an Independent Power Plant, which is the Okpai IPP.
With investments in these areas, Eni continues to prove its commitment to the socio-economic development of Nigeria. It is a noticeable commitment in the company’s robust social investments, which supports education, health, access to power, capacity building and infrastructural development in hundreds of communities across Nigeria.
Eni’s Green River Project, an innovative and ground-breaking project promoting food security in the Niger Delta in particular, retains a place of pride in the company’s Civic Social Responsibility (CSR) portfolio.
In 2020, the firm signed a new 10-year supply contract for 1.5 million tonnes of LNG with the Nigeria LNG Limited, a joint venture between NNPC, Shell, Total and Eni, with a share of 10.4 per cent. The agreement is intended to provide further volumes for its global LNG portfolio, beginning in 2021, and help develop the firm’s work in the main markets.
In 2021, Eni operated over a developed and undeveloped acreage of 27,964 square kilometers.
In the development and production phase, the company operated onshore Oil Mining Leases (OML) 60, 61, 62 and 63, with its interest of about 20 per cent and offshore OML 125, with its interest of about 100%, OPL 245, with interest of 50 per cent and holding interests in OML 118 of about 12.5 per cent, among other ventures.
The Okpai Power Plant, with an originally installed capacity of about 480 megawatts (MW), generated around 2.040 GWh in 2022 and contributed around 7.3 per cent of the total energy fed into the national grid capacity available in the country. Okpai Phase 2 is designed to generate 450MW, and its open cycle comprising two gas turbine generation trains were completed in 2019 and 2020, thereby increasing Okpai’s available total generation capacity to over 800 MW. Okpai is the largest electricity generation plant built in Nigeria by private operators.
Also, since 2012, Eni has been supplying gas to third parties in Nigeria, through the Ob-Ob Plant, which has a power station with an installed capacity of about 150 MW that generates electricity for around a million beneficiaries.