Eni (company)

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Eni SpA

logo
legal form Società per azioni
ISIN IT0003132476
founding 1953
Seat Rome , ItalyItalyItaly 
management
  • Claudio Descalzi, CEO
Number of employees 31,701
sales EUR 76.94 billion
Branch Petroleum , natural gas , power generation
Website www.eni.com
As of December 31, 2018

The Eni SpA is an Italian petroleum and energy company based in Rome , in the fields of petroleum , natural gas , power generation , petrochemical , engineering and services to oil fields it operates.

The name Eni is an acronym for " Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi " (German: national corporation for hydrocarbons ).

history

Eni headquarters in Rome

The company's origins lie in Agip (Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli), founded in 1926 , with which Italy launched its oil and gas policy and initiated the exploration of hydrocarbons in Italy and cooperation with Romania, Albania and Iraq. In the years that followed, the Agip sales network was set up, while exploration continued with little success, so that Enrico Mattei , who was appointed insolvency administrator , was commissioned to liquidate the company in 1945. Shortly afterwards, various large natural gas deposits were discovered in the Po Valley and the liquidation of the Agip was discontinued.

In 1953 Eni (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi) was founded in Milan and Enrico Mattei was appointed as the first chairman of the board , while Agip was integrated into Eni. Mattei overturned the monopoly of the largest oil-producing companies and introduced a new contractual formula with the producing countries. This formula, which was first used in Egypt and Iran in the mid-1950s, offered the local government authorities a 50 percent stake and thus a share in the profits from the development of gas and oil production.

Palazzo Eni, Rome, built 1959–1962. Photo by Paolo Monti , 1967.

In the 1950s and 1960s, significant natural gas occurrences were discovered in the Adriatic and in Tunisia, "El Borma", one of the largest oil occurrences in Africa. The expansion took place in Italy v. a. in Africa, where petrol station networks have been set up in Libya, Ethiopia and Somalia and significant oil deposits have been discovered in the Gulf of Suez and Nigeria. In Morocco, Eni opened its first refinery in Africa. In 1960 Eni signed a contract with the Soviet Union to import oil into Italy. Other large oil deposits were discovered in Iran and the Persian Gulf.

In the 1970s, Eni recognized natural gas as an alternative energy source to face the crisis triggered by the first oil embargo and signed agreements to import gas from the Soviet Union and the Netherlands. From then on, natural gas became the second important mainstay, which still distinguishes Eni from the other world's largest mineral oil companies . Eni carried out deep drilling in Italy and built major international gas pipelines to Tunisia and Algeria, which secured gas supplies to Italy.

A number of key strategic decisions were made in the 1990s. In 1992, Eni was converted from a public corporation into a stock corporation , and in 1995, partial privatization was initiated with an IPO . Between 1995 and 1998, a total of 63% of the share capital was placed on the market in four tranches. International activities were expanded significantly through acquisitions in Algeria, China, Angola, the North Sea and Egypt. Group-related agreements have been signed with Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Nigeria and Angola. In 1999, Eni signed an agreement with Gazprom to build the 1,250 km long Blue Stream gas pipeline that connects Russia with Turkey via the Black Sea.

Eni expanded further after the turn of the millennium with the acquisitions of British Borneo and Lasmo, which are active in the exploration and production sector. The group structure was also reorganized. Other projects included the resumption of exploration and production in Saudi Arabia, production from the recently discovered large Kashagan deposit and the start of the Western Libya Gas Project. Eni has also secured exploration licenses in North Alaska and India and signed an agreement with Gazprom in 2006 that guarantees Eni gas supplies from Russia until 2035 and allows Gazprom to enter the Italian market. In addition to crude oil and natural gas, the energy generation division grew into Eni's third strong pillar.

In 1999, EniChem was renamed Syndial , with the non-petrochemical divisions being transferred to Polimeri Europa in 2002 . Syndial still contributes to the chemical company's legacy. In 2008, a Turin court sentenced the company to a fine of 1.9 billion euros for the discharge of DDT into Lake Maggiore between 1990 and 1996.

A public corporation that was still in deficit at the beginning of the 1990s has become a profitable global corporation. Between 1997 and 2006, sales and profits roughly tripled from 31.3 billion euros to 86.1 billion euros and from 2.6 billion euros to 9.2 billion euros, placing Eni in the top 20 of the top-selling companies Global corporations has risen and became one of the most profitable companies in the world despite the roughly 30 percent state participation. Between the IPO at the end of 1995 and 2007, the shares of Eni closed in positive territory for twelve years, taking into account the dividends distributed, and the value of the shares, including the dividends distributed, increased sixfold during this period. This was put to an end with the financial crisis .

Business areas and core businesses

The business of Eni include petroleum , natural gas , power generation , development and construction of facilities and petrochemicals . These are divided into the three core businesses of Exploration & Production, Gas & Energy and Refining & Marketing.

Exploration & Production

Eni oil rig in the Mediterranean

Eni is exploring for and producing oil and natural gas in Italy, northern and western Africa, the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Australia, and areas of high potential such as the Caspian Sea, the Middle East, India and Alaska.

Production in 2006 was 1.77 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day. The secured reserves amounted to around 6.44 billion boe at the end of 2006, which corresponds to a life of ten years with constant production and without new discoveries.

In 2006, the Exploration & Production division generated sales of 27.2 billion euros , which corresponds to around 32 percent of total sales.

Gas & energy

As a former state monopoly , Eni is Italy's largest gas supplier and is active in the supply, transport, distribution and sale of natural gas. In contrast to other large oil companies, this forms Eni's second strong pillar, which makes it far less dependent on the oil market. Natural gas sales in 2006 totaled 97.48 billion cubic meters, 52 percent of them in the Italian home market and 36 percent in the rest of Europe.

Eni is also active in the production and sale of electricity, where Eni has recorded enormous growth in recent years. The sale of electricity in 2006 amounted to 24.82 terawatt hours (TWh) , which now corresponds to around a quarter of the production of the former electricity monopoly and competitor Enel or a domestic market share of eight percent.

The Gas & Energy division achieved sales of EUR 28.4 billion in 2006, which corresponds to around 33% of total sales.

Refining & Marketing

The refining and marketing of petroleum products includes the refineries , storage and transport, as well as the distribution network of Agip . Sales in this area in 2006, before eliminating the double counting from the other two areas, amounted to 38.2 billion euros.

Gas stations

Agip gas station

Eni operates around 5,300 petrol stations across Europe under the Agip brand , around 4,000 of which are in Italy, making Eni the largest petrol station network operator in the country. Eni operates 417 petrol stations in Germany, 318 in Austria, 243 in Switzerland and 155 in France.

Key figures

Eni is one of the largest and most profitable groups in Europe. 2014, the company had an annual turnover of 131.82 billion euros and a profit before tax of 20.3 billion euros. In 2018, annual sales of EUR 76.94 billion were achieved and around 32,000 employees were employed. Eni operates in 71 countries. The market capitalization was around 58 billion euros in March 2019.

Shareholder structure

proportion of Shareholders annotation
30.10% Italian state of which 4.34% directly and 25.76% indirectly via Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA
0.91% Own shares
11.05% Private investors
0.80% Others
57.14% Free float of which Italy 44.24%, Europe 19.06%, United States and Canada 17.94%, Great Britain and Ireland 7.75%, other countries 9.30%

(As of January 2019)

The company logo is a black, fire-breathing dog with six legs on a yellow background. The design by the sculptor Luigi Broggini was selected from 4000 proposals in a 1952 competition by Eni. The six legs of the imaginary animal stand for the two legs of the driver and the four wheels of a car.

criticism

Pollution in third world countries

Like all oil companies operating in third world countries , Eni is also confronted with accusations of placing little value on environmental protection and the living space of the local population in the extraction of oil . So it happened v. a. in Nigeria , the largest oil supplier in Africa, repeatedly to disputes and kidnappings of employees of various Western oil companies, because the people living there see their livelihoods threatened by the oil production and the associated environmental pollution. According to Eni, 67% of oil spills in Nigeria are due to sabotage , theft and terrorism .

Price policy at the gas stations

In Italy, consumer protection associations often accuse the oil companies of pursuing a particularly profit-oriented pricing policy in which price increases are passed on immediately, but price reductions are passed on only hesitantly. In this regard, another meeting took place in August 2007 between the leading oil companies and the government, at which the price differences for fuels in Italy compared to other EU countries were discussed. This after the price difference in Italy to the other EU countries had peaked just before the start of the summer holidays and so suspicions of a systematic price agreement among the petrol station network operators have been made. Various studies show that, excluding fuel taxes , fuel prices in Italy a. are higher than in other European countries for structural reasons. With over 22,000 points of sale, the Italian petrol station network is the largest in Europe, but only in fifth place among the EU-15 countries in terms of average fuel sales per petrol station. In terms of self-service petrol stations and cashless payment options when refueling, Italy even ranks last.

In June 2012 , however, the company launched a price war to counter the high gasoline taxes imposed by the state. The prices on certain days and at certain petrol stations across Italy are depressed by 20%. An action that ultimately carried away other petrol station operators too: Esso announced that it would undertake similar price cuts.

Conflict of Interest of the State

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With a quota of 30.3%, the Italian state is still the largest single shareholder in Eni, while Eni is also the country's largest petrol station network operator and gas supplier. This leads to a conflict of interest , as the state, on the one hand, as a shareholder, has an entrepreneurial interest in maximizing the profit of Eni, and at the same time, as the state, must be concerned about a fair fuel and gas supply to the country. All the more so because gas is by far the most widely used energy source in Italian kitchens. The Italian state is therefore repeatedly accused of de facto misusing Eni as a hidden source of tax revenue. In 2006 the Italian state received 1.423 billion euros in dividends alone on its 30.3 percent share and a further 832 million euros from withholding taxes on the dividends paid to the other shareholders.

Price agreements among the chloroprene rubber manufacturers

2007 has European Commission against the companies Bayer , Denka , DuPont , Dow Chemical , and Eni Tosoh imposed a total fine of 243.2 million euros, because they adhere to a chloroprene rubber - cartel participated. According to the Commission, between 1993 and 2002 they shared the market for chloroprene rubber among themselves and made price agreements. By far the largest part of the cartel fine was imposed on Bayer, which would have had to pay a cartel fine of EUR 201 million. Because of the leniency program introduced in 2002 , Bayer was waived the fine. After taking into account the reductions granted on the basis of the leniency program, the largest part of the fine (EUR 132.1 million) went to Eni, which, along with Bayer, had already been fined in earlier Commission decisions for cartel activities. Of the remaining fine, € 59.2 million went to DuPont, of which € 48.6 million to Dow (both 25% reduction), € 47 million to Denka and € 4.8 million to Tosoh (50% reduction) .

Corruption and support for dictators

After the civil war in Libya (2011) , Eni is suspected of paying bribes to the Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi . The judicial authorities had asked the Libyan oil company to provide documents showing the payments.

See also

Web links

Commons : Eni  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ eni.com - Board of Directors
  2. ↑ a b c Annual Report 2018. Eni SpA, accessed on May 21, 2019 (English).
  3. ↑ Il Ddt costa caro all 'Eni maxi-multa ambientale da 2 miliardi - la Repubblica.it. Retrieved May 20, 2019 (Italian).
  4. ↑ eni.com: Eni station finder , accessed on March 30, 2019.
  5. ↑ boersennews.de: Eni share
  6. ^ Company profile. May 12, 2016, accessed May 20, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Eni share (897791, IT0003132476). Retrieved May 20, 2019 .
  8. ↑ List of shareholders. January 15, 2019, accessed May 20, 2019 .
  9. ↑ eni.com: The six-legged dog: a history of Eni's logo from 1953 to 1998 , accessed on March 30, 2019.
  10. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: photo series - image 2 - SPIEGEL ONLINES brand world: six-legged dog at gas stations. Retrieved May 20, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Micaela Taroni: Eni is suspected of bribing . In: Wirtschaftsblatt , April 11, 2012. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved on July 19, 2012.