Investment giant BlackRock’s infrastructure investment unit Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) announced that it has acquired a 49.99% co-control stake in Italian energy company Eni’s Eni’s Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) business, Eni CCUS Holding.
The agreement follows an announcement by Eni in May that it had entered exclusive negotiations with GIP for the transaction following a selection process involving several prominent international players who expressed strong interest in the company. The sale of the CCUS business stake forms part of Eni’s “satellite model,” aimed at attracting capital from partners to fund growth and highlight the value creation of its new businesses, while preserving free cash flow from traditional businesses for shareholder distribution.
Eni CEO, Claudio Descalzi, said:
“The development of our satellite model applied to our businesses related to the energy transition is therefore successfully continuing, confirming their significant attractiveness in terms of growth potential and value creation by attracting aligned capital, as well as their effectiveness in reducing emissions.”
Eni CCUS Holding encompasses several large-scale European CCUS projects aimed at decarbonizing industrial clusters, including the UK-based Liverpool Bay project underlying Hynet and Bacton, each targeting 10 million tonnes annually by 2030, as well as the 5 million tonne oer year L10 project in the Netherlands. The platform also has the right to acquire the 50% held by Eni of Ravenna CCS project in Italy, currently under development in partnership with Snam.
The companies said that the platform is expected to expand further over time, with the partnership expected to accelerate the development of the projects, and to consider including other potential projects within a broader platform of CCUS initiatives in the medium- to long-term, capturing opportunities to provide critical infrastructure to help decarbonize hard-to-abate industries.
BlackRock acquired GIP in 2024 for $12.5 billion, citing emerging long-term opportunities in areas including decarbonization, energy security, digital infrastructure, and supply chain transitions.
GIP’s Chairman and CEO Bayo Ogunlesi said:
“We are excited to partner with Eni, a global leader in CCUS. GIP’s experience in midstream infrastructure, combined with Eni’s technical, operational and industrial capabilities, will help accelerate the deployment of CCUS solutions at meaningful scale, furthering our commitment to serve growing market needs for affordable, decarbonized energy and products.”
