Guinea-Bissau and Italian oil company Eni will start a collaboration in the areas of exploration, natural climate solutions, agriculture, sustainability and health, the transalpine company announced in a statement Wednesday.
The collaboration is contained in the Memorandum of Intent to explore “potential areas of collaboration in the fields of exploration, climate solutions based on nature and technology, agriculture, sustainability and health,” Eni details.
“This memorandum aims to evaluate solutions to promote environmentally sustainable growth and support the development of local communities,” the note adds.
Eni reveals that the agreement also includes “the assessment of the exploration potential of the country’s ‘offshore’ area.”
In return, the Italian company pledges to “strengthen emergency and intensive care services,” for which it says it has delivered a first batch of essential medical equipment to the Guinean Health Ministry, while its Eni Foundation is conducting a study to improve maternal and child health in the country.
Eni, which in the past has developed a strategy focused on obtaining Russian gas, has been promoting new alliances on the African continent since the start of the war in Ukraine.
The first point of its latest Industrial Plan advocates strengthening national “energy security” through geographic and technological diversification, for which it plans a series of facilities in Libya, in the Arab city of Hail and on the island of Ghasha in the United Arab Emirates.
The Italian company also plans to expand its activity in the Persian Gulf, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Angola, and the Eastern Mediterranean area.
In January, the chairman of Eni’s board of directors, Claudio Descalzi, and the chairman of the National Oil Corporation of Libya (NOC), Farhat Bengdara, signed in Tripoli an agreement worth 8 billion euros for oil and gas exploration and production in the Maghreb country.