(ANSA) - ROME, NOVEMBER 19 - Eni has signed a joint venture with the BF Group to develop research projects for agricultural experimentation of oil plant seeds to be used as feedstock in Eni's biorefineries. The energy group announces it.
The agreement between the companies also provides for the purchase by Eni of a minority shareholding in the subsidiary of BF Bonifiche Ferraresi and the entry of Eni in the share capital of BF through the subscription of a reserved capital increase.
The agreement, reads a note, "leverages the consolidated collaboration between Eni and BF in the agricultural sector for the development of initiatives for economic diversification, transfer of skills and support for entrepreneurship in Italy and abroad".
The agreement has a strategic value, as Bonifiche Ferraresi, with its 7,750 hectares, is the largest Italian agricultural company by agricultural area used and Eni produces advanced biofuels in the biorefineries in Gela and Venice Porto Marghera, one of the tools to contribute to the containment of CO2 emissions in the transport sector. By 2023, Eni will no longer use palm oil in its production processes.
The testing and experimentation activities of the joint venture will be carried out in the "Open Air Laboratories" of BonificheFerraresi in Sardinia, and will be aimed at evaluating the multiplicability of production in Italy in foreign countries where Eni is present, in particular in Africa. The jv will also be involved in the development of projects relating to staff training for the development chains of diagro-feedstock projects.
The identification of the most suitable plant species will follow the sustainability criteria defined in the European Directive on biofuels, promoting sustainable cultivation, protecting the soils and not subtracting land destined for the production of products intended for food, thus favoring the sustainable economic development of marginal land in Italy and the rest of the world. 'abroad. (HANDLE).