Eni, Saipem extend collaboration agreement in biorefining

Eni announced March 27 that it and Saipem have extended the collaboration agreement signed between the two companies in November 2023 to combine their respective skills and specializations for Eni biorefining projects.

The agreement concerns the construction of new biorefineries, the conversion of traditional refineries into biorefineries and the development of new initiatives by Eni in the field of industrial transformation. 

Through this agreement, Eni, in line with its goal of decarbonizing processes and products, intends to further develop its biorefining capacity through the development of new initiatives to produce biofuels both for aviation—sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)—and for land and sea mobility (hydrotreated vegetable oil). 

At the same time, Saipem further strengthens its distinctive expertise in biorefining and decarbonization. 

In line with the agreement, Eni has recently awarded Saipem a contract for the start-up of detailed engineering, procurement services and the purchase of critical equipment for the upgrading of the Enilive biorefinery in Porto Marghera, next to Venice, Italy.  

The project provides for the increase in the capacity of the plant, from the current 400,000 tons per year to 600,000 tons per year and, starting from 2027, also the production of SAF. 

Also, as part of the agreement, in November Eni awarded Saipem a contract for the conversion of the Livorno refinery into a biorefinery with a capacity of 500,000 tons of hydrotreated biofuels using the Ecofining™ technology developed by Eni and Honeywell UOP.  

Eni said the Livorno plant will be built in such a way as to allow a possible subsequent upgrading to produce SAF with appropriate technical modifications. 

For both the Livorno and Venice projects, Saipem also carried out all the engineering activities preparatory to the executive phase, such as feasibility studies and front-end engineering design.  

The total value of both contracts is currently approximately 320-million euros (USD$344.5 million). 

Eni, through its subsidiary Enilive, currently has a production capacity in the biorefining sector of 1.65 million tons per year and the goal is to increase it to over 5 million tons by 2030. 

Eni was the first company in the world to convert two traditional refineries, in Venice Porto Marghera and Gela, into biorefineries for the processing of waste raw materials such as used cooking oils, animal fats, residues from the agrifood industry and vegetable oils.  

As an engineering, procurement-service and construction-management contractor, Saipem has already executed the project for the conversion of the Venice biorefinery and engineering for the Gela biorefinery and, as a result, has gained distinctive skills in the field of solutions for reducing the carbon footprint of new and existing plants. 

Eni added that, through this collaboration, it and Saipem also confirm their commitment to a transformation that enhances the entire energy supply chain, including all the suppliers involved in the projects.