| Friday, May 30, 2025 | 3:51 AM EST

Eni SpA has signed an agreement with Côte d’Ivoire’s Agriculture Ministry to explore the potential of cultivating biofuel crops in the West African country.

The memorandum of understanding “aims to enhance the rubber (hevea) supply chain and to assess the introduction of oilseed crops on marginal and degraded lands, thereby contributing to the country's sustainable agricultural development without competing with food production and forest ecosystem”, the Italian state-backed energy major said in an online statement.

Eni said an existing project in collaboration with the Ivorian Federation of Rubber Producers is already “enabling the valorization of rubber residues - a crop widely cultivated in the country - by transforming them into raw materials for biofuel production, generating economic and social benefits for thousands of farmers”.

Last year Eni expanded its hydrocarbon-focused presence in Ivory Coast, where it entered 2015, to also pursue biorefining opportunities through the new company Eni Natural Energies Côte d’Ivoire.

The new company is “dedicated to developing sustainable supply chains of agricultural raw materials for the company’s biorefineries”, Eni said.

“The initiative is part of Eni’s strategy for sustainable mobility and its broader commitment to supporting fair and inclusive growth in line with the objectives of Côte d’Ivoire’s National Development Plan”.

Eni, through subsidiary Enilive, has a biorefining production capacity of 1.65 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa), according to a statement by Eni March 27. Eni aims to raise this to over five MMtpa by 2030. It also aims to enable one MMtpa of sustainable aviation fuel production by next year and potentially double that level by the end of the decade.

Last year Eni announced an organization restructuring for Enilive, involving KKR & Co. Inc., to bring in new capital.

In the first quarter of 2025 the United States investor completed the purchase of a 25 percent stake in Enilive, to be raised to 30 percent after the conclusion of a later deal.

“Enilive, with its integrated business model, represents a prime example of the progress of the business satellite model, further confirmed by a post-money valuation of 11.75 billion euros of Equity Value for 100 percent of Enilive's share capital and KKR's commitment to strengthen its role as a key partner through an agreement, announced to the market on 18 February, to increase its stake in Enilive by a further 5 percent”, Eni said in a press release March 6, 2025.

Eni’s satellite model involves “creating focused and lean companies able to attract new capital to create value through operating and financial synergies and the acceleration of growth”.

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