Eni, biorefinery in South Korea with LG Chem

New move by Eni in Asia. LG Chem and Enilive have announced the signing of a joint venture agreement that represents a further step towards the final investment decision for a new biorefinery project in South Korea. The agreement was signed in Rome by Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi and LG Chem CEO Shin Hak-cheol.

Last September, Enilive (a company directly controlled by Eni, which holds 100% of its share capital) and LG Chem announced that they have started evaluating the development and operation of a new biorefinery at LG Chem's petrochemical site in Daesan, South Korea. The aim is to complete the plant by 2026 and process around 400,000 tonnes/year of biogenic feedstock using Eni's Ecofining™ technology to make available various products including Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), HVO diesel (hydrogenated vegetable oil) biofuel and bio-naphtha.

LG Chem and Eni will combine their expertise in this project. The final investment decision is expected by 2024. "The production of biofuels," says Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, "is one of the pillars of our strategy to help achieve full carbon neutrality by 2050, including through the sale of progressively decarbonised products. The biorefinery project we are working on together with LG Chem is a key project to internationally expand Enilive's presence in the biorefining sector, to increase its capacity from the current 1.65 million tonnes/year to over 5 million tonnes/year by 2030, and to increase the optionality of SAF production to 2 million tonnes/year from 2030." For Shin Hak-cheol, CEO of Lg Chem, "this agreement has an important significance because it represents the spirit of collaboration and joint effort of leading global companies towards the common goal of Net Zero. LG Chem will contribute to the realisation of this project and, with a view to the future, consolidate its position as a leading eco-friendly plastic company, achieving sustainable development and carbon neutrality as a truly global company".