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Eni S.p.A.
Eni is an Italian energy company that finds, drills, and sells oil and gas, and also sells fuel to drivers and makes low-carbon fuels and chemicals.
Eni is one of the world's big oil and gas companies. It hunts for oil and natural gas underground, drills wells, and sells the stuff — sometimes as crude oil to refineries, sometimes as natural gas to power plants, factories, and homes, usually sold on long-term contracts and often through its stakes in big international projects.
Its most visible business to ordinary people is its fuel stations. Eni runs thousands of gas stations, mostly in Italy and across Europe, where drivers fill up on petrol and diesel and often grab a coffee at the attached shop. For most people, that forecourt is the only face of Eni they ever see. Underneath that, Eni is a sprawling, state-connected giant. The Italian government holds a big stake in it, and its reach stretches from North Africa to the Middle East to the deep waters off Africa and beyond. Exploration success is its lifeblood: if Eni finds a huge new gas field, that discovery can feed its production for decades. When oil and gas prices are high, cash pours in; when they collapse, the whole machine strains.
Eni is also trying to change its stripes. It is building a low-carbon business, making biofuels and pushing into renewable power, plus it runs a chemicals division called Versalis that struggles when energy costs spike. In 2023, it took a step unusual for a big oil firm by listing its low-carbon and biofuel unit, Plenitude, on the Milan exchange — a way to raise cash and let outside investors value the green side separately. The tension is real: Eni still lives off fossil fuels, yet wants to be seen as part of the transition. Like every oil major, it is a bet on both the old world and the new one at once.
Saved answer · last researched 12 Nov 2026
Timeline
Italy Creates Agip
In 1926, Italy created Agip, a national oil company, to help secure the fuel the country needed as it industrialized. Agip searched for oil and built the research roots that a later company would inherit. Its work planted the seed for Italy's modern energy history.
Eni Is Born Under Mattei
After the Second World War, Italy needed energy on a grand scale, so in 1953 the government created Eni as a state-owned giant and handed it Agip's research work. To run it, it chose Enrico Mattei, a former resistance fighter turned industrialist who had a gift for taking on the big international oil companies. Mattei's bold style would shape the company for decades.
The Central European Pipeline
Mattei pushed Eni beyond Italy's borders by starting the Central European Oil Pipeline, carrying oil from Genoa into the heart of Europe. It was a physical reminder that Eni was becoming a European energy player, not just an Italian one.
Eni Spreads Across Africa
From Nigeria to the Congo, Eni set up companies in many African countries to find and produce oil in partnership with local players. This built its international upstream footprint, meaning the part of the business that finds and pumps oil. Africa became one of the foundations of Eni's global reach.
First Look at Solar Power
In 1977, long before climate change was a headline topic, Eni began studying how to make electricity from sunlight. It was a small early step into renewables, but it planted a thought that would matter far more in later decades.
Eni Becomes a Public Company
In 1992, Eni changed from a state entity into a public company, Eni S.p.A., and Italy began the long process of selling shares to outside investors. This was the first step toward Eni standing on its own as a business rather than as an arm of the government.
Eni Lists on the Stock Exchange
A few years later, Eni's shares began trading on the stock exchange, opening it to ordinary investors and global capital. The listing set Eni on a path to become a global, technology-heavy energy company.
A Radical Turn Toward the Energy Transition
By 2014, climate change had moved to the center of the debate, and Eni launched a radical new phase of its evolution. The goal was to develop the solutions and technologies to offer ever cleaner products and services across the whole energy value chain, from finding fuel to selling it.
Eni Buys Neptune Energy
In 2023, Eni and Vår Energi, which Eni mostly owns, bought the Norwegian gas company Neptune Energy for about five billion dollars. The deal improved the business and delivered billions of cubic metres of gas for Europe, which badly needed it after the Ukraine war cut supplies. Eni framed gas as the crucial bridge toward cleaner energy.
Eni's Big UK Bet
Eni confirmed around eleven billion pounds of investment in the UK through 2030, with about two-thirds going to lower-carbon sectors. It works across the whole UK energy chain, from renewables and fusion to carbon capture and upstream oil and gas. The plan shows how far Eni has moved toward decarbonisation and energy security.