SAN DONATO MILANESE, Italy—Eni has finalized a previously signaled transformation and relaunch plan for its Versalis chemicals and polymers business, the Italian energy and petrochemicals group said Oct. 24.
Under a 2024-27 strategic plan, Eni said it will invest more than $2.15 billion in the business and reduce CO2 emissions by about 1 million metric tons—about 40 percent of Versalis' emissions in Italy.
The program includes the set-up of new industrial plants consistent with the energy-transition and decarbonization of industrial sites across sustainable chemistry, as well as biorefining and energy storage.
Eni aims to significantly reduce Versalis' exposure to basic chemicals, a sector that is facing structural and irreversible decline in Europe. According to the Italian group, its basic chemicals activities have incurred losses of almost $7.6 billion over the last 15 years, including more than $3 billion in the last five years.
To enable the construction of the new plants, activity at the cracking plants in Brindisi and Priolo, and the polyethylene plant in Ragusa, will be phased out, Eni said.
Nevertheless, the group expects the transformation to have a positive impact on employment, counteracting the impacts of inevitable negative consequences that the structural and consolidated crisis of the sector in Europe.
To be fully implemented by 2029, the plan envisages the development of new chemical platforms in renewables, circular and specialized products, growing markets in which Versalis has acquired a leading position.