The Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo, Anatole Collinet Makosso, and the CEO of Eni, Claudio Descalzi, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries, Paul Valentin Ngobo; the Minister of Hydrocarbon, Bruno Jean Richard Itoua; and the Minister of International Cooperation and Promotion of Public Private Partnership, Denis Christel Sassou N’Guesso, on the joint development of the agriculture and biofuels sector in the country.
The MoU sets the framework for the industrial scale production of castor oil to provide feedstock for Eni’s bio-refinery system, while also creating employment opportunities and expanding agricultural activities to marginal and abandoned lands, avoiding impacts on agricultural areas, and activities currently destined for food production. The pilot phase is set to begin this month, with castor bean sowing activities on more than 200 hectares of land, and up to 1000 estimated beneficiaries. The industrial development phase is expected to see cultivations on 150,000 hectares with 90,000 estimated beneficiaries by 2030.
This MoU opens a new area of activity for Eni in Congo, in support of the Congolese National Development Plan for Agriculture 2018 to 2022 and builds upon Eni’s commitment to contribute to the decarbonization of African countries’ energy mix, leveraging the contribution that biofuels can make to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
Following the signature of the MoU, an Eni delegation led by CEO Claudio Descalzi met with the President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, to discuss agricultural projects and gas valorization, ensuring the country’s development and economic diversification within the framework of the global energy transition. Eni is the only company that engaged in the development of the Republic of Congo’s considerable gas resources, and currently feeds gas to the Céntrale Electrique du Congo (CEC) which guarantees 70% of the country’s power production. Eni has been present in Congo for more than 50 years.
