Eni Aims to Eliminate Palm Oil in Biofuels, in Line With New EU Rules
March 14 2019 - 11:44AM
Dow Jones News
By Dieter Holger
Eni Spa (ENI.MI) said Thursday that it is making progress in
eliminating palm oil from the biofuels it refines, following new
European Union rules announced this week.
"The objective is to reduce dramatically, and potentially bring
to zero, the use of palm oil, in line with EU rules," an Eni
spokeswoman said in response to the new regulations.
On Wednesday, the EU Commission said biodiesel refined from palm
oil should gradually decrease by 2023 and reach zero in 2030,
though some exemptions remain.
The decision follows a 2016 study by the commission which found
that biodiesel refined from palm oil is three times worse for the
climate than regular diesel because harvesting the oil causes
deforestation in the tropics.
Eni is in the process of substituting palm oil for other
vegetable oils, the spokeswoman said, but fully phasing out palm
oil is difficult until more alternatives become available.
"We are already decreasing the use of palm oil, progressively
substituting it with waste residues and used cooking oil, with the
aim of phasing it out completely," she said.
Europe is the second top importer of palm oil in the world after
India, according to nonprofit environment group Transport and
Environment, with some 51% of imported palm oil in 2017 used for
biodiesel. The EU would have cut its imports of palm oil over the
years if the oil hadn't gone to biofuels, the group said.
Eni has a bio-refinery in Venice where 85% of the vegetable oil
stored is palm oil, the spokeswoman said. The company will also
soon bring a new plant online in Sicily that will produce 600,000
metric tons of biodiesel annually.
The Italian energy company is also developing new ways to refine
more advanced biofuels, the spokeswoman said.
"At the end of December we have for example inaugurated a pilot
plant that transforms urban, organic solid waste into bio-oil,
which can then be used as a feedstock in a traditional refinery,"
she said. Eni is also looking at algae and at castor oil from
pre-desert plantations in Tunisia, she said.
Write to Dieter Holger at dieter.holger@dowjones.com;
@dieterholger
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 14, 2019 11:29 ET (15:29 GMT)
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