The Italian state energy company, Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI), has revealed that it achieved significant improvements in its environmental performance last year.
The firm and its subsidiaries spent a total of 1.519 trillion lira (784 million euros) on projects related to its performance in the health, safety, and environment (HSE) arena. Of that total, 1.027 trillion lira was earmarked for the environment.
The expenditures resulted in a 3% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and a 3% decrease in gross energy consumption compared with 1997, according to the company`s 1998 HSE report. And the group reduced emissions of five other key atmospheric pollutants.
Nitrogen oxides emissions were down 4% compared with the previous year, while sulfur dioxide output fell 28%. Emissions of suspended particulate matter were down 25% vs. a decline of 5.6% for volatile organic compounds and an 8.5% reduction in methane fugitive emissions.
ENI also reduced chemical oxygen demand, a key indicator of effluent water pollution, by 6.2%.
"ENI`s results are due to improvements in production cycles and fuel mix used in the plants and to an increasingly more-efficient management of the company`s natural gas transportation and distribution system," said the company.
In presenting the group`s HSE report, ENI Chairman Renato Ruggiero noted that the issues of sustainable development and environmental protection are becoming increasingly important. And in the coming years, environmental protection will be a key issue in the relationships between international companies and emerging countries, he says.
Some key HSE projects ENI undertook last year include:
- Research to produce new, low-environmental-impact products, including automotive lubricants, hydrodesulfurization catalysts, gasoline biodesulfurization and caprolactam synthesis processes, a drilling mud additive, and a biodispersant.
- Signing of the Venice-Porto Marghera area agreement, which seeks to foster "improved socioenvironmental equilibrium" in the petrochemical sector and under which ENI will invest 1.1 trillion lira.
- A telemedicine project that aims to improve medical assistance for expatriate personnel.
ENI CEO Vittorio Mincato said the firm will continue to focus on the restoration of polluted sites, which requires a strong financial commitment, state-of-the-art technologies, and cooperative relationships with local authorities.
The problems ENI is confronting are the results of past industrial mismanagement inherited from third parties, says Mincato. He added that the industry as a whole needs a clear legal framework within which companies can undertake improvement programs with sustainable costs and in a reasonable time frame.
