Italy’s energy giant Eni has signed an exclusivity agreement with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), an infrastructure investor that is part of BlackRock, to negotiate the potential sale of an interest in the former’s carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) business.
As disclosed, the deal is aimed at finalizing checks and preparing the documentation related to the potential sale of Eni’s co-control 49.99% stake in its affiliate, Eni CCUS Holding .
The entity operates the UK’s Hynet and Bacton projects and the L10 in the Netherlands. It also holds the future right to acquire the Ravenna CCS project in Italy. According to Eni, additional prospects could be added to build a wide platform of CCUS projects in the medium-to-long term.
As per the final agreement under negotiation, GIP plans to support investments in the CCUS projects on top of acquiring the stake in Eni CCUS Holding.
“The agreement follows a thorough selection process involving several prominent international players who expressed strong interest in the company, further confirming the great appeal of its business and its growth prospects,” commented Eni.
The Italian giant believes this confirms the value it is creating in its new energy transition-related businesses and funding their further growth.
Eni recently secured financiing for its Liverpool Bay CCS project, which will serve as the backbone of the HyNet industrial cluster, situated in what is said to be one of the UK’s most energy-intensive industrial districts.
CO2 will be captured from plants across North West England and North Wales and transported through new and repurposed infrastructure to permanent storage in Eni’s depleted natural gas reservoirs, located under the seabed in Liverpool Bay in the Irish Sea.
After getting the green light for the CCS project from the NSTA, Eni handed out two engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts to compatriot Italian players.
Under the first deal, Saipem was put in charge of the new CO2 electrical compression station . Under the second, Rosetti Marino was picked to handle the delivery of four platforms to be used for CO2 storage in depleted reservoirs.
Earlier this month, Eni was listed as one of the 44 oil and gas players required to provide new CO2 storage solutions to meet the EU’s target of reaching a CO2 injection capacity of at least 50 million tonnes per year by 2030.