Eni has announced a major partnership with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), BlackRock’s infrastructure investment platform, which will acquire a 49.99% stake in the Italian energy company’s carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) business. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The move, as reported previously by the Carbon Herald, is part of Eni’s broader strategy to divest minority stakes in its non-core but strategically important operations in order to accelerate their expansion. Now it’s been officially confirmed by both parties.
The CCUS unit, known as Eni CCUS Holding, encompasses projects such as HyNet and Bacton in the United Kingdom and the L10 initiative in the Netherlands.
The portfolio also includes future rights to the Ravenna carbon capture project in Italy, which Eni is developing with gas infrastructure operator Snam.
Claudio Descalzi, Eni’s Chief Executive Officer, described the transaction as a milestone in consolidating the company’s growing CCUS business into a dedicated entity capable of delivering “large-scale, technically advanced decarbonisation solutions.”
Shared investment and expertise
Under the agreement, Eni and GIP will jointly fund the development of the CCUS portfolio, combining GIP’s expertise in infrastructure financing with Eni’s deep technical and operational capabilities.
Bayo Ogunlesi, GIP Chairman and CEO, said the collaboration would “help accelerate the deployment of CCUS solutions at meaningful scale.”
CCUS is viewed by the International Energy Agency as a key technology for achieving net zero targets, as it captures carbon dioxide at the source of emissions or directly from the atmosphere and stores it underground.
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Supporters argue it will be indispensable in decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy industry.
However, critics remain skeptical about its cost-effectiveness and warn that it could entrench reliance on fossil fuels rather than speeding up the energy transition.
With this deal, Eni positions itself as a leading European player in CCUS, while gaining the financial backing required to pursue projects that could play a central role in meeting regional and international climate commitments.
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