Yesterday, Eni’s Board of Directors approved the Group results for the third quarter and the nine months of 2019 (unaudited).

Commenting on the results, Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, remarked:
“Eni has delivered robust results in the quarter, while also finalizing the acquisition of Exxon’s assets in Norway and a 20% stake in the Ruwais refinery in the UAE, providing a further boost to growth and stability. We achieved significant 6% growth in upstream production in the quarter, mainly from Egypt, Kazakhstan and Ghana, as well as first production from Mexico, just 11 months after the final investment decision was made. The growth in production and results from gas sales and oil marketing allowed us to generate significantly better cash flow of €9.4 billion in the first nine months of the year, despite an adverse trading environment. This is sufficient to cover not only the €5.6 billion in net investments during the period, but also the planned dividend and buy-back for the entire year, forecast at approximately €3.4 billion. This shows that Eni's efficient portfolio can achieve breakeven at prices well below current difficult conditions. In particular, in the third quarter Brent prices decreased by 13 $/barrel and European gas prices fell by over 50%, as the downward trend which began in 2018 gathered pace. From the end of the year, the acquisition in Norway, adding further production of around 100 thousand barrels per day, in addition to the stabilizing contribution from our stake in the Ruwais refinery, which will increase our current refining capacity by 35%, will contribute to the robustness of our results.

Finally, it is important to highlight the continued progress from our complementary businesses of the future, from bio-refineries to renewables and the first waste to fuel pilot plants, which draw on in-house research and will become more and more our “second exploration activity” in terms of new business generation."

On this basis, I am very confident in Eni’s position as I look to the near future as well as to the medium and long-term transition.”

Exploration & Production

Hydrocarbon production

• Strong growth in the third quarter: 1.89 million boe/d, up by 6%, when excluding price and portfolio effects, the highest ever third quarter (1.85 million boe/d in the nine months, up by 1.8%);
• Further production ramp-up anticipated in the fourth quarter;
• Added 240 kboe/d from start-ups and ramp-ups in the nine-month period, with the bulk coming from Egypt, Libya, Ghana, Angola, Mexico and Algeria

2019 main start-ups:

• Area 1 offshore Mexico, started up in early production in just eleven months after the FID;
• in Egypt, the Baltim SW gas project in the Great Nooros Area, in just nineteen months after the FID, and recent near-field oil discoveries in the Melehia SW development area;
• Trestakk field in Norway and the Berkine oil field in Algeria.

Portfolio

• Vår Energi, the joint venture between Eni (70%) and HitecVision (30%), announced the acquisition of ExxonMobil’s upstream assets in Norway, which are expected to produce 150 kboe/d in 2019, with a production target in excess of 350 kboe/d by 2023. The consideration of the transaction amounting to $4.5 billion will be funded by Vår Energi’s own cash flows and dedicated credit lines. Closing is expected by the end of 2019 with accretive effects on the net cash flow.
• Signed agreements to divest exploration permits in Kenya, Morocco and Mozambique to Qatar Petroleum.
• Divested a 20% interest in the Merakes discovery to Neptune.

Exploration highlights

• in the nine-month period approximately 650 mmboe of exploration equity resources were discovered;
• in Block 15/06 (Eni operator with a 36.8% interest) offshore Angola, since the beginning of the year, three discoveries have been made totaling five since the resumption of exploration in 2018. The cumulative resources found are pegged at 2 billion barrels of oil in place;
• Vietnam: a gas and condensates discovery in the exploration permit Ken Bau, in the offshore Block 114 (Eni operator with a 50% interest);
• Niger Delta: made a significant near-field discovery, already linked to production facilities, with a capacity of approximately 3 mmcm/d of gas and 3 kbbl/d of condensates;
• Offshore Ghana: new gas and condensates discovery made in the CTP-Block 4 (Eni operator with a 42.47% interest), with estimated resources in place ranging between 550-650 bcf of gas and 18-20 mmbbl of associated condensate, representing a potential commercial discovery due to its proximity to existing production infrastructures;
• Norwegian North Sea: new oil and gas discoveries in the PL 869 license participated by Vår Energi;
• Egypt: a gas discovery in the Nour exploration licence (Eni operator with a 40% interest). Near-field discoveries in the Western Desert, the Nile Delta and in the Gulf of Suez which have already been linked to the production facilities.

Reloading the Eni’s mineral interest portfolio

• in 2019, acquired new exploration areas covering 27,541 square kilometers in Algeria, Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Mozambique, Norway and the UAE.

Adjusted operating profit Exploration & Production

• €2.14 billion, down by 31% q-o-q; €6.59 billion in the nine months, down by 17%. Excluding the impact of the loss of control over Eni Norge on the 2018 results to allow a-like-for-like comparison, and net of scenario effects and IFRS 16 accounting, the adjusted operating profit increased by 12% in the quarter (up by 7% in the nine months), mainly due to production growth. A large portion of the scenario effects was driven by significantly lower gas prices, mainly in Europe, which negatively affected the result for €530 million in the quarter and €690 million in the nine months.

Exploration & Production outlook

• Hydrocarbon production: reaffirmed the target of a production plateau in the range of 1.87 -1.88 mmboe/d, assuming a Brent price forecast of 62 $/bbl. The projected range assumes a degree of volatility in the Asian demand for LNG and in Venezuelan production. As previously anticipated, production growth has been faster in the third quarter which was nonetheless affected by residual maintenance activity. Production is expected to ramp-up further in the fourth quarter. New field start-ups and ramp-ups are projected to add approximately 250 kboe/d of new production in the year, mainly relating the Zohr field, the achievement of full production at fields started in 2018, particularly in Libya, Ghana and Angola, as well as the fields started in 2019, mainly the Area 1 oil project offshore Mexico, Baltim SW in Egypt, North Berkine in Algeria and the Trestakk project in Norway and other additions. Those increases are expected to more than offset mature field declines.
• Exploration resources: equity additions for the year expected at 700 million boe.

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