Argo Cassiopea, Eni and gas:between promises and unknowns in the time of the climate crisis

Within three years, one of the most impressive gas fields in Italy will come into operation.For Eni, gas is still essential for the energy transition.For science, the transition must be rapid.

• Eni announces the start of methane gas extraction in the Sicilian Argo Cassiopea field.
• The project aims to extract one and a half billion cubic meters of gas in the midst of the climate crisis.
• Eni responds to criticism by explaining that gas is a bridge vector for the transition.

In the period in which the Mediterranean Sea made records a new record Of surface water temperature – 31.96 degrees off the coast of Egypt on August 15th – news arrived that shocked activists and anyone who cares about the future of our planet.The news in question concerns the oil company Eni, of which the Italian state is a shareholder, which announced the start of methane gas extraction in the Argo Cassiopeia, located in the Sicilian channel, just a few kilometers from the place where the record temperature of the Mediterranean waters was recorded.

Only a few years ago, the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, he underlined the crucial importance of leave fossil fuels where they are, i.e. underground, to prevent i climate changes are definitively beyond our control (assuming there is still room to control them).An opinion supported by scientific studies, including the one published in Nature and by the title Unextractable fossil fuels in a 1.5 °C world.Even the International Energy Agency (IEA), charting the global path to achieve zero net CO2 emissions by 2050 – and thus respect theParis Agreement – he confirmed that “no new projects are necessary upstream (exploration and production, ed.) of oil and gas".Nevertheless, despite increasingly evident climate signals and the recommendations of experts around the world, the exploration and extraction of new fossil fuel deposits continues unabated.Eni alone he started 552 new projects of development for fossil fuels after the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015.

What does the Argo Cassiopea project consist of?

The most recent project, Argo Cassiopeia, aims to extract 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas (out of an availability of 10 billion) thus becoming the most impressive upstream project active on Italian territory.The gas, taken from one of the four underwater wells drilled in the Sicily channel, will be conveyed through a 60 kilometer long underwater pipeline to the treatment and compression plant located in the Gela refinery, in the province of Caltanissetta.Here it will be treated and fed into the national grid, helping to cover Italy's energy needs.The entry into operation is expected within three years.

Short times, considering that it took 18 years since the first gas wells were discovered in this area, including the one known as Argo Cassiopeia:the first drillings, in fact, date back to 2006-2007.The slowdowns are due to the fact that there are different and numerous subjects who opposed the start of the extraction: the first was the Sicily Region which in 2010 gave a negative opinion to the authorization request presented by Eni because it was against offshore drilling.This opinion was followed by appeals presented by some municipalities - Santa Croce Camerina, Palma di Montechiaro, Licata and Ragusa - and by associations that protect the environment such as WWF Italia and Legambiente.The appeals were then rejected and not even the appeal to the regional administrative court (Tar) stopped the project which, however, changed compared to the initial proposals to obtain a favorable opinion.

The "sustainable" version of the project, according to Eni

This brings us to the latest version of the project which, as Eni explains in its press release, reserve a lot attention to the environment, making substantial changes to the original project to reduce the impact on the territory.The development, entirely underwater, promises to be free of visual impacts and with greenhouse gas emissions "close to zero".Furthermore, the installation of 3.6 MWp photovoltaic panels will guarantee, Eni continues, "carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions".

Going into detail, Eni explains that thephotovoltaic system “it will be connected to the Argo Cassiopea gas extraction plant, helping to satisfy its electricity needs and, given its configuration which will allow the balancing of electrical loads, it will not be necessary to install storage systems”. The project will be carried out by Plenitude - a company controlled by Eni with the aim of developing alternative energies to fossil fuels - within the Gela refinery, currently undergoing environmental redevelopment on behalf of another Eni subsidiary, Eni Rewind. Completion of the solar plant is scheduled for 2025.

What impact will it have Argo Cassiopeia?

Many argue that gas extraction will bring economic benefits to Italy — Davide Tabarelli, president of Nomisma Energia, a research and consultancy company in the energy and environmental fields, even spoke of “economic crime” in reference to the choice to leave the gas underground.Eni, on the other hand, promises around 15 million euros in royalties to the municipalities of Gela, Licata and Butera:are the taxes for the right of passage of the installations on the territory.Many others, however, point out how they come systematically the real costs of the operation were ignored:extreme weather events, aggravated by climate change, already cost us 135 billion euros a year, according to the study published in Nature, The global costs of extreme weather that are attributable to climate change.And the extraction of fossil fuels, with methane at the forefront, does just that amplify the violence of these disasters.

For these reasons, despite the company's environmental reassurances, the project has raised many doubts and criticisms, especially on its actual sustainability and compliance with the announced ecological parameters.Many wonder how much it really is in line with decarbonisation objectives of the company itself (which aims to achieve neutrality in terms of emissions relating to Scope 1,2 and 3 objectives by 2050) and with the energy transition in general.

The fact is that from the available technical information it is not yet possible to accurately determine what the real impact will be of this operation in terms of emissions.What is certain is that, at this historical moment, the greenhouse gas emissions that Eni produces every year they are already today higher than those annually attributable to Italy as a whole.Eni says it wants to respect the reduction targets, but its strategy appears to be in conflict with scientific indications on climate matters:the company he actually declared of wanting to continue increasing gas and oil production at least until 2027, consistently with the line followed so far.

Line that sees natural gas as a “bridge” carrier for the energy transition, a fossil resource, but which contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions linked to the production of electricity.As the Eni press office involved in LifeGate was keen to underline, among fossil fuels, gas is the one with the lowest CO2 footprint and, the company added, it is a still indispensable since renewable energies alone cannot quickly cover global energy needs.

Furthermore, the multinational wanted to ensure that the weight of gas will progressively decrease as renewable sources grow and, again gradually, it will replace other more polluting fossil fuels:according to projections provided, methane gas will represent 60 percent of hydrocarbon production by 2030 and over 90 percent by 2050, with a gradual abandonment of coal and oil.

Eni is not among the major investors in the transition

Yet, the renewable power to be installed it must triple between now and 2030, as also established during Cop28, the climate conference in Dubai in December 2023.An objective considered achievable, but at risk due to continuous investments in fossil fuels.

Even the recent one says so competitiveness report commissioned to Mario Draghi by the European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen.The text - which contains a series of economic recommendations so that Europe increasingly takes on a role that is not subordinate to the United States and China - states that the retail and wholesale prices of gas are currently three to five times higher to those of Washington and Beijing.Of course, the strategy pursued by Eni to extract gas in Italy would serve to reduce the import of gas from abroad and this could generate economic benefits.But it is objective that the market, in the short term, is oriented towards a massive expansion of renewable energy.And Draghi's recommendations go in this direction:the former Prime Minister suggests decoupling the remuneration of renewable sources from fossil generation (i.e. that the price of the former does not depend on the latter), adopting practices to encourage self-production of energy, streamlining the bureaucratic and administrative procedures that block the birth of new plants.

It is paradoxical that, in a context of this type, in which European companies contribute to making Europe more competitive and sustainable, Eni does not intend to significantly increase investments in renewables:from 2023 to 2026, the multinational will invest 6 to 6.5 billion euros per year in its upstream activities (of which 2.1 billion euros in exploration), while only 1.65 billion euros per year will be dedicated to renewable energy, i.e. less than 20 percent of the planned investments.With such modest investments, in 2030, the maximum share of renewables in Eni's energy supply mix would remain below 7 percent.For the transition, they are just crumbs.