EIB and Eni sign financing agreement for new biorefinery

01 Apr EIB and Eni sign financing agreement for new biorefinery

(Oilandgaspress) – the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Eni signed a 15-year loan for €500 million to convert selected units of Eni’s Sannazzaro de’ Burgondi refinery, located in the Italian province of Pavia, into a biorefinery. The agreement was signed by EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti and Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi.

The project involves converting the refinery’s Hydrocracker (HDC2) unit using Ecofining™ technology, and building a pre-treatment plant for waste materials like used cooking oils and animal fats, as well as waste from the agri-food industry, which comprise the main feedstock used by Enilive (Eni’s company devoted to achieving more sustainable mobility) to produce hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) biofuels.

With its proprietary Ecofining™ technology, Enilive produces HVO – a biofuel made from renewable feedstocks (pursuant to the EU Renewable Energy Directive) such as used cooking oils and waste from the agri-food industry. Pure HVO can be used in approved engines, and is already available at more than 1 600 Enilive service stations across Europe. From 2028, the Sannazzaro plant will start producing HVO diesel biofuels and the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) biojet, with a production capacity of around 550 000 tonnes per year.

Building on existing utilities and infrastructure, the project will complement conventional fuel production with HVO diesel biofuels and SAF, helping reduce the carbon footprint of transport and decarbonise the aviation sector, for which SAF is currently the only available solution. By diversifying the product offering on the market, the project will also strengthen Italian and EU energy security, and serve the objectives of REPowerEU by expanding Europe’s biofuel production capacity.

The project follows a €500 million financing agreement signed in July 2025 to convert Eni’s Livorno refinery into a biorefinery. Transforming part of the Sannazzaro de’ Burgondi refinery as well pursues Enilive’s strategic objective: increasing biofuel production capacity to 5 million tonnes by 2030, including over 2 million tonnes of SAF production capacity. Biofuels are currently produced at Enilive’s biorefineries in Venice and Gela, and at the St Bernard Renewables LLC biorefinery in Louisiana in the United States (a joint venture in which Enilive holds a 50% stake). These will be joined in 2026 by Italy’s third biorefinery in Livorno, followed by two biorefineries currently under construction in Malaysia and South Korea. A fourth biorefinery in Italy, in Priolo, Sicily, will be developed together with Q8 by 2028.

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