Uncovered: Italian Oil Giant’s African Biofuels Gamble Falls Short

(Transport & Environment/Clean Technica) Investigation into Eni’s projects in Kenya and the Republic of the Congo shows company is failing to produce “miracle” drought-resistant biofuels crops at scale.

Italian oil giant Eni is failing to deliver on its promise to produce thousands of tonnes of biofuel crops¹, a new investigation shows. The investigation by Transport & Environment (T&E), in collaboration with The Continent, raises questions over the credibility of the company’s plan — which is backed by Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni — to scale up biofuels as an alternative to oil and gas.

Eni is betting big on biofuels and just recently signed a big deal with Ryanair to supply so-called sustainable aviation fuels. The Italian government for its part is leaning heavily on Eni as part of its foreign policy ambitions to stem migration flows through economic development in Africa. A key part of this strategy is energy investments. At a recent Italy-Africa summit, Ms Meloni spoke of Italy being a natural energy hub between the EU and Africa².

Eni has promised to create an entirely new supply chain of “sustainable oils” from agricultural crops and has set up partnerships with six African countries in order to develop ‘agri-hubs’ that will supply vegetable oil for its refineries. The main crop that Eni is betting on, castor, is advertised as being drought-resistant and suitable for planting on poor quality land. In Kenya alone, Eni aims to enrol 400,000 farmers producing up to 200,000 tonnes a year by 2027.

Testimonies from Kenyan farmers, gathered by T&E, show that Eni has subcontracted a complex network of brokers and cooperatives, leading to inefficiencies and disappointment for thousands of small-scale farmers who do not receive adequate support or revenue. Additionally, the worst drought in 40 years has severely affected harvests.

In the Republic of the Congo, Eni is taking a different approach. Instead of relying on small-scale farming, it is working with large agribusinesses. But difficulties faced in adapting seed varieties to local conditions mean projects have yet to get off the ground.

While Eni’s biofuels strategy is struggling, it continues to invest in oil and gas in the region. It has earmarked €25bn to explore and develop new oil and gas projects globally, as well as maintain existing fields. The company has set aside less than €3.4bn for biofuels.

In response to T&E’s questions, Eni denied that it had under-delivered on one of its flagship green projects and emphasized expected “improvements on agricultural yields” with the introduction of new plant varieties.

¹ Eni’s 2023 agriculture production target for Kenya is 30,000 annual tonnes. Production would rise to 200,000 tonnes per year by 2026, the company said. In the Republic of the Congo, Eni has pledged to produce 170,000 tonnes a year by 2026. Overall, Eni has committed to shipping exponentially increasing tonnages of vegetable oil from abroad to 700,000 tonnes by 2026, or around a quarter of its expanding biorefining capacity.

² “Italy’s goal is to help African nations that are interested in producing enough energy to meet their own needs and then exporting the excess to Europe, combining two needs: Africa’s need to develop this production and generate wealth, and Europe’s need to ensure new energy supply routes. Among the initiatives in this area, I would like to mention the one in Kenya dedicated to developing the biofuels supply chain, which aims to involve up to around 400,000 farmers by 2027.”