EIB and Eni sign EUR500 mn finance agreement to convert Livorno refinery into a biorefinery

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Eni have signed a EUR500 million 15-year finance contract to support the conversion of Eni’s Livorno refinery in Tuscany into a biorefinery. The agreement was signed today at Eni’s headquarters in San Donato Milanese by EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti and Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi.

Eni’s project involves the construction of new plants to produce hydrogenated biofuels at the Livorno refinery site, including a biogenic pre-treatment unit and a 500 000-tonne/year Ecofining plant.

Thanks to its proprietary Ecofining technology, Eni’s company dedicated to sustainable mobility, Enilive, produces HVO (hydrogenated vegetable oil) – a biofuel made from renewable raw materials such as used cooking oil and agrifood waste. Pure HVO can now be used in approved engines and is distributed through existing infrastructure.

EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti said: “The EIB financing is key to delivering a project of high environmental, technological and strategic value, helping to promote the decarbonisation of the transport sector. This is a concrete example of how industrial innovation can accelerate the path towards climate neutrality, while generating sustainable value for regions.”

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said: “The agreement with the EIB confirms Eni’s concrete and high-quality commitment in the transition towards increasingly decarbonized energy. It also underscores the validity of our approach, which is to invest and leverage all available and effective initiatives and technologies for reducing emissions. This virtuous approach is now leading us to convert a third refinery into a biorefinery in Italy, following the examples of Venice and Gela.”

HVO biofuels play a key role because they can make an immediate contribution to reducing transport sector emissions generated not only on roads, but also by air traffic, maritime and rail transport (calculated along the entire value chain).

The conversion of the Livorno site is in line with Enilive’s strategy to increase the production of biofuels in response to growing demand in Europe and Italy, in order to meet both emission reduction targets under RED III (Renewable Energy Directive) and the obligations to release pure biofuels for use as defined by Italian legislation. Worldwide, it is estimated that the demand for hydrogenated biofuels will increase by 65% over the period 2024-2028.

The Livorno biorefinery will be able to treat different types of biogenic charges, mainly waste and residues of plant origin, to produce HVO diesel, HVO naphtha and bio-LPG.

Among the distinctive features of the project, in addition to the adoption of advanced technologies, there is the possibility in the future of modifying the layout of the plant to have the flexibility to also produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which is a key element of efforts to decarbonise aviation. This gives flexibility to the investment and brings it up to speed with the environmental priorities of the European Union, broadening the potential impact.

This operation is part of the energy transition at national and European level, contributing substantially to decarbonisation of the transport sector and the reduction of CO2 emissions. It also supports the achievement of Italy’s targets for the production of pure biofuels, which under current legislation provides for a gradual increase in use from 300,000 tonnes/year in 2023 to 1 million tonnes by 2030.