Eni says will inject 2 bln euros to relaunch chemicals business (updated)
24/10/2024 17:16
(Adds details)
MILAN, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Italian energy group Eni
ENI.MI said on Thursday it would invest 2 billion euros ($2.2
billion) in five years to decarbonise and relaunch its
loss-making chemicals business Versalis.
"Eni aims to significantly reduce Versalis' exposure to
basic chemicals, a sector that is facing structural and
irreversible decline in Europe," the group said in a statement,
adding that the unit had suffered losses of nearly 7 billion
euros over the past 15 years.
Versalis will be reorganised 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)
(Reporting by Francesca Landini, editing by Gianluca Semeraro
and Gavin Jones)
((francesca.landini@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 66129437;
Reuters Messaging: reutersitaly.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))