- Eni continues to deliver on its accretive growth strategy amid energy market disruptions and price volatility. The 1Q '26 performance was ahead of operating and financial guidance for the year.
- E&P production grew by 9% year-over-year to 1.8 mln boe/d. Further emphasizing the organic foundations of this outstanding growth, year-to-date exploration results have been exceptional with around 1 bln boe of resources discovered from activities in Angola, Côte d'Ivoire, Libya, Egypt and lastly the outstanding finding of Geliga in Indonesia. FIDs were taken at two major gas hubs in the Indonesian Kutei basin, providing further visibility on the production outlook.
- The announced demerger of Plenitude will unlock value to Eni and support Plenitude in delivering efficient growth.
- Both major Transition businesses are advancing their growth plans:
- Enilive approved two major biorefining projects at the Sannazzaro and Priolo hubs.
- Plenitude completed the acquisition of Acea Energia, adding 1.2 mln clients to its customer base.
- Considering strong underlying performance and improved scenario, FY CFFO guidance is raised by 20% to €13.8 bln.
- Consistent with Eni’s distribution policy of material upside participation for shareholders, the proposed share buyback is raised by around 90% to €2.8 bln.
Eni's Board of Directors, chaired by Giuseppe Zafarana, yesterday approved the unaudited consolidated results for the first quarter of 2026. Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said:
'Despite the challenges of volatile energy markets we remain focused on disciplined and consistent execution of our strategy to deliver to the market and our customers reliable, affordable and lower carbon energy. Our financial performance and strength, evident in our 1Q results, is key in supporting our continuing investment in our geographically diversified energy portfolio. In E&P we delivered outstanding production growth. We also continued to add further value to the portfolio thanks to exceptional exploration success and the progression of our project developments. The JV with Petronas in SE Asia, set to be launched shortly, will drive a new phase of growth and value generation in a key geography. Our transition satellites are leveraging strength of their integrated business model to generate recurring earnings, while pursuing meaningful self-funded growth. Enilive is building 2 MTPA of new biorefining capacity, including the two recent FID projects of Sannazzaro and Priolo. Plenitude is ramping up renewable generation assets and thanks to the acquisition of Acea Energia has hit 11 mln clients. Our plan to demerge the company ensures it is positioned to invest and grow in the most self-funded and efficient fashion. Looking forward, thanks to our high-quality and diversified asset portfolio, providing us with significant flexibility, E&P low breakeven prices and resilient financial structure, with gearing at historic lows, we are uniquely positioned to capture scenario improvements and to share expected upside with shareholders. Our new cash flow guidance of €13.8 bln at a revised scenario for the FY ’26 reflects this and will translate into an expanded buyback program of €2.8 bln, almost a 90% increase vs the original plan.'
Strategic and financial highlights
Accretive production growth and business continuity underpinned E&P excellent results in 1Q
- Oil and gas production grew by 9% driven by project ramp-ups in West Africa/Norway and start-ups in Angola, as well as good operational continuity, offset by some limited impact from Middle East disruptions.
- Exploration delivered outstanding results adding around 1 bln boe of fresh resources, with discoveries in Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Libya, and in April significant gas discovery made offshore Egypt, followed by a major gas and condensate discovery Geliga, offshore Indonesia.
- The completion of the Eni-Petronas JV spanning Indonesia/Malaysia is expected for 2Q and will help valorize Eni’s huge mineral potential in the Kutei basin driving new phase of growth and value creation.
- FID was reached at two large deep-water gas projects offshore East Kalimantan – the South Hub and the North Hub - only eighteen months after approval of the PODs in 2024, confirming Eni’s fast-track development model performance.
- Two major project start-ups were achieved in Eni’s satellite Azule Energy with the first gas delivery at the New Gas Consortium’s Quiluma field and the Ndungu full-field, part of the Agogo Integrated West Hub Project, in the Western area of Block 15/06 off Angola.
- The hull launch of the FLNG vessel for the Coral Norte gas development (Mozambique) represents a major project milestone.
- Eni has been awarded the offshore exploration License O1 following Libyan NOC’s competitive 2025 open licensing round, covering 29.000 sqkm in the extension of the prolific Sirte Oil & Gas Province.
Transition satellites providing earnings stability and growth
- Together, Plenitude and Enilive, generated combined adjusted proforma EBITDA of €0.5 bln in the quarter.
- Enilive has around 2 mln tonnes of new capacity expansion underway, with projects in Italy and Southeast Asia, more than doubling current capacity and over 50% of the amount to meet our 2030 target of 5 mln tonnes.
- FIDs to convert part of the Sannazzaro hub into a biofuel production facility, with the support of €500 mln financing from the EIB, and to build a new biorefinery at the Priolo petrochemical hub in JV with Q8 were reached in the quarter.
- Plenitude has reached almost 6 GW of installed capacity and with the closing of the acquisition of Acea Energia has achieved 11 mln clients.
Optimizing the risk-reward profile of the portfolio through satellites and the dual exploration model
- Announced reorganization of Plenitude shareholding structure as a jointly controlled entity with Ares upon a €1.5 bln disproportionate capital increase and Eni retaining ca 65% stake. The proposed demerger will improve the investment optionality of the entity.
- The new upstream satellite in the gas and LNG sector of South-East Asia will execute a massive, self-funded development plan to reach the goal of a long-term, sustainable production plateau of 500 Kboe/d.
- A further 10% interest in the Baleine oilfield to be divested to Socar based on our dual exploration model.
Solid 1Q ‘26 financials driven by volume growth, cost discipline and better realizations. The balance sheet remained strong with proforma gearing at 15%; returned €1 bln of cash to shareholders.
- 1Q ‘26 Group’s proforma adj. EBIT was €3.54 bln, driven by solid E&P performance and stable results at GGP and the Transition satellites. Adjusted net profit was €1.3 bln with a Group tax rate of 42.2% (47% in the year-ago quarter). Group results improved sequentially (up 23% at EBIT level), whilst the y-o-y comparison was affected by unfavorable exchange rate effects (the EUR appreciated 11% against the USD) and one-off income in 2025.
- E&P reported €3.36 bln of proforma adj. EBIT (up 20% sequentially, almost unchanged y-o-y) driven by favorable volume/mix effects, cost discipline and better oil realizations, despite exchange rate trends.
- GGP and Power reported €0.33 bln of proforma adj. EBIT, with GGP in line y-o-y due to continued asset portfolio optimization, while the Power performance reflected a one-off item in the 1Q ‘25.
- Enilive reported €0.14 bln of proforma adj. EBIT, 45% higher y-o-y thanks to the biorefining business supported by an improved market scenario. Plenitude with €0.21 bln of proforma adj. EBIT was affected by an unfavorable scenario (down 12% y-o-y).
- The Refining business reported improved results, albeit at loss (€0.05 bln) due to better products crack spreads, partly offset by lower throughputs. Versalis’ chemicals business started showing progress thanks to an ongoing restructuring and last year’s plant closures (the loss was reduced by 35% to around €0.16 bln).
- 1Q ’26 Group’s adjusted CFFO before working capital movements was €2.88 bln and funded organic capex of €1.9 bln. Cash returns to shareholders were €1 bln and comprised a third tranche of the 2025 dividend (€0.77 bln) and completion of the 2025 buyback program (€0.3 bln). Net debt was €10.8 bln at the end of 1Q ‘26, with proforma gearing at 15%, in line with the targeted range (10%-15%).
Outlook 2026
Eni is backing its outlook of sustained operational growth and cash flow generation, with material upside participation for shareholders.
Specifically our segmental guidance is providing:
- FY’26 underlying oil&gas production growth expected at 3-4%.
- FY’26 GGP adjusted proforma EBIT guided at around €1.3 bln, up 30% from the initial forecast.
- Enilive and Plenitude: FY proforma adjusted EBITDA respectively of around €1.1 bln and €1.3 bln.
- End of year installed renewable capacity at 6.5 GW (Plenitude @100%); biorefinery capacity at 2.1 MTPA plus 2 MTPA under construction (net Enilive).
On the financial side, we expect:
- At a revised Brent scenario of 83 $/bbl, SERM refining margin at 8 $/bbl, TTF gas price at 50 €/MWh, at an exchange rate EUR/USD of 1.15, adjusted CFFO to amount to €13.8 bln representing an underlying improvement vs Group’s sensitivities (€0.11 bln and €0.09 bln per each one-dollar change in the Brent price and SERM margin respectively; €0.03 bln for each one-euro per MWh change in the spot price of European gas).
- Gross capex and net capex confirmed at €7 bln and €5 bln, respectively.
- Gearing at the lower end of the 10-15% guided range.
Shareholders’ returns:
- Confirmed the planned 2026 dividend of €1.1 per share (up 5% vs. 2025).
- Due to revised scenario assumptions and improved CFFO guidance and in line with the Group distribution policy, 60% of CFFO upside compared to the budgeted CFFO (€11.5 bln) to be returned to shareholders in the form of additional share repurchase till a Brent price of 90 $/bbl. This translates into a revised share repurchase plan of €2.8 bln vs. an initial guidance of €1.5 bln up by almost 90%.
- In case of a scenario with Brent above 90 $/bbl or with a 50% increase in budgeted gas prices or refining margins, 100% of additional CFFO to be returned as an extraordinary dividend in the fourth quarter.
The full version of the Press Release is available in PDF format.
Source: Eni
