Gip (Blackrock) with Eni in C02 storage

Blackrock enters the capital of Eni's C02 capture, transport and storage company. In fact, Eni has announced that it has signed an agreement with Global Infrastructure Partners (Gip) - a global investor in the infrastructure sector that is part of BlackRock - for the sale of a 49.99% stake in Eni Ccus Holding, a company specialising in carbon capture, utilisation and storage. The company manages, through its subsidiaries, the Liverpool Bay projects in the UK (a pivotal initiative of the HyNet industrial cluster, with a regulatory and commercial framework already defined and a financing plan in place) and Bacton, as well as the L10-CCS project in the Netherlands. In addition, it has the right to acquire Eni's 50% stake in the Ravenna CCS project in Italy and will be able to include other potential projects in a broader platform of initiatives that Ccus may undertake in the medium to long term.

"The decision to consolidate our global Ccus portfolio into a dedicated entity and the entry of Gip as a strategic partner," explained Eni's CEO Claudio Descalzi in a note, "will further strengthen our ability to provide large-scale and technically advanced decarbonisation solutions. The development of our satellite model applied to our energy transition activities therefore continues successfully, confirming their considerable attractiveness in terms of growth potential and value creation through the attraction of aligned capital, as well as their effectiveness in reducing emissions'.

"We are excited to partner with Eni, a world leader in Ccus," added Bayo Ogunlesi, Gip's Chairman and CEO. "Gip's experience in midstream infrastructure, combined with Eni's technical, operational and industrial capabilities, will help accelerate the development of Ccus solutions on a significant scale, reinforcing our commitment to meet the market's growing needs for affordable and decarbonised energy and products. The agreement reached, which follows the exclusive negotiation announced last May, provides for Eni and Gip to hold joint control of the company (the completion of the transaction is, in any case, subject to the issuance of legal authorisations).

The overall value of the transaction is information that the parties have kept confidential, but it is mainly determined by Gip's contribution to the investments and costs already incurred and those that will be undertaken and will progressively expand the company's portfolio, plus a premium on these investments and costs due to Eni's ability to develop and operate projects related to C02 capture and storage. Capture and storage - underlines Eni in the note - are a mature and safe technological process and one of the fundamental levers for the energy transition, being the most efficient and effective decarbonisation solution to date to support hard-to-abate industries in reducing their emissions.

Within the broader scope of Eni's transition-related assets are also the two companies, Plenitude and Enilive, which are valued by leading international investors at a combined total of more than EUR 21 billion and which together generate more than EUR 2 billion in Ebitda.