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Eni Will Invest Billion to Relaunch Loss making Chemical Unit Versalis

Eni Will Invest $2 Billion to Relaunch Loss-Making Chemical Unit, Versalis

MILAN – Eni (NYSE: E), the Italian energy group, said on Thursday it would invest 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in five years to decarbonize and relaunch its loss-making chemical unit Versalis.

“Eni aims to significantly reduce Versalis’ exposure to basic chemicals, a sector that is facing a structural and irreversible decline in Europe,” the group said in a statement, adding that the unit suffered losses of nearly 7 billion euros over the past 15 years.

Versalis will be reorganized around several activities comprising biochemicals, downstream, circularity and, in a reduced form, basic chemicals.

To enable the construction of new industrial sites, activity at Eni’s cracking plants in Brindisi and Priolo and a polyethylene plant in Ragusa – all in economically depressed southern Italy – will be phased out, the group said.

It pledged to set up new plants dedicated to sustainable chemistry, biorefining, and energy storage.

The restructuring aims to reduce emissions by approximately 1 million tonnes of CO2, currently around 40% of Versalis’ emissions in Italy, Eni said.

($1 = 0.9264 euros)

(Source: Reuters)

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Kevin Putnam
Kevin Putnam is a financial journalist and editor based in New York. He specializes in editing news and analysis related to U.S. stock market.