Italy’s Eni Eyes Foray into Indian Clean Energy Space

Jan 21, 20211 min read

Underpinning the growing focus of global super energy majors on India’ green economy, Italy’s Eni SpA is exploring the feasibility of participating in the world’s largest clean energy programme.

Eni is eyeing gigawatt (GW)-scale investments in India and plans to reach 55GW installed capacity globally by 2050. The Rome-headquartered firm is studying the build quality of projects, players’ profiles, and the market in India.

Oil giants are aiming to diversify and invest in India’s clean energy programme as the conventional hydrocarbon space undergoes technological disruptions. With a focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment, marquee global oil and gas firms, such as French energy giant Total SA, and Malaysia’s state-run oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Bhd, or Petronas, have already invested in India.

“India is the market for renewables. Eni has the wherewithal and can invest on a GW scale. It has been studying the build quality of projects and player profile, and the Indian market," said one of the two people mentioned above requesting anonymity.

Eni is present in 66 countries and had registered hydrocarbon production of 1.871 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboed) in 2019.

Despite India’s green energy sector facing a myriad of issues, dealmaking has gathered pace with green energy deals getting better valuations than pre-covid levels, as yield-seeking funds and financial investors flush with capital are driving up prices.