Alliances and collaborations in R&D

The objectives of the alliances can be summarized as follows:

• Developing R&D projects on breakthrough technology that include extensive exploration activities and the involvement at various scientific disciplines.
• Reducing project execution times through optimization of in house and outsourced activities.
• Increasing technical-scientific knowhow functional to R&D projects and supporting researchers in increasing their skills.
• Predicting the evolution of technological platforms crucial to the energy business and monitoring the development of emerging technologies in other areas.

The essential aspects are:

• The research structure must have a single reference point in order to address contractual problems, and to identify the departments and researchers that will take part in the projects proposed by Eni.
• Internationally recognized excellence in a range of scientific disciplines wide enough to guarantee the possibility to establish a long lasting collaboration that would include current Eni interests as well as future ones that will rise on the basis of the evolution of business strategies or technical innovation.

The most important alliance tied so far is the one with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). The Eni-MIT alliance, signed in February 2008, will manage to achieve the objectives set out as to excellence, flexibility (research areas, researchers, etc.) and multidisciplinary approach (contamination among various disciplines); it will also favour the set up of a network within the research context, new technological companies and start-ups.

The alliance between Eni and MIT will last five years and involves a financial commitment of 50 million dollars in total, equally allocated in two lines of research:

MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), the Institute that belongs to MIT responsible for the study of solutions to the transformation of the energy system so as to meet the challenges of the future through the analysis of every aspect of energy supply and demand and environment protection and safety.

Solar Frontiers to promote and accelerate multidisciplinary research in next generation solar energy technology, including nanotechnology, advanced materials and hydrogen production through solar energy. The Program consists in the following research projects:

• Nano-PV: study of solar cells based on nanometer structures “quantum dots‘ in layers, each of which captures a portion of the solar spectrum hence converting it in electricity. It may lead to the creation of quite efficient solar cells with a very limited use of material.
• Biomimetic approaches: methods of self-assembly of layers of materials “produced‘ by viruses “programmed‘ ad hoc. This way it would be possible to make miniaturized structures without the need of sophisticated machinery.
• Artificial Leaf: a study on the possibility of separating water into oxygen and hydrogen imitating the CO₂ photosynthesis. An efficient way to separate water can contribute to solving the problem of solar energy storage.
• Material Genoma: advanced computational method to design Energy related devices (solar cells, batteries, …). The purpose is to reduce the need for long and costly experimental procedures by understanding in advance what characteristics the materials and the structures are required to have.
• Paper-thin solar cells: method of positioning thin layers of semiconductor material onto substrates that might be “as thin as paper‘. It has a high potential of usage for high technology solar cell production.
• Maximising SolaROI: study of techniques and materials with the aim to reduce solar concentration plants’ production and running costs.

In May 2010 the Solar Frontiers Center was opened in Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA) to promote research in advanced solar technologies through projects ranging from new materials to hydrogen production from solar energy.

On February 17, 2011 Eni and Stanford University signed a new strategic alliance on research and innovation. Over the next four years Eni plans to provide more than $10 million in research support to accelerate research and increase opportunities for collaboration between the two technology leaders. The centerpiece of the collaboration will be a research program focusing on core technologies for the oil & gas industry.

The integration of academic and industrial approaches seeks to capitalize on the synergies between Stanford's multidisciplinary technology capabilities and Eni's engineering expertise to drive scientific innovation to meet the energy challenges of tomorrow.  The research portfolio is geared toward defining and rapidly implementing breakthrough technologies in exploration and production operations and developing innovative methodologies for environmental protection and remediation.

The Framework Research Agreement was signed in Palo Alto (California) by Ann Arvin, Vice Provost and Dean of Research of Stanford, and Umberto Vergine, Senior Executive Vice President for Studies and Research at Eni. This alliance builds on an existing, longstanding collaboration between Eni's Exploration & Production Division (E&P) and Stanford's School of Earth Sciences. 
The alliance is an integral part of Eni's strategy to guarantee the company's Exploration & Production Division maintains its leadership in technology as a cornerstone for continuous growth in its core upstream activities.

Stanford is recognized as one of the world's leading universities. Established in 1891 by Jane and Leland Stanford, the university was designed to prepare students "for personal success and direct usefulness in life" and "promote the public welfare by exercising an influence on behalf of humanity and civilization." Today, Stanford University is continuing that mission through innovation in a broad range of disciplines, and its cross-departmental approach has led to countless breakthroughs that are helping to solve the engineering challenges of our time.

Framework Collaboration Agreements on R&D activities were signed with Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino. The agreements thoroughly address the aspects of Intellectual Property that emerged in the collaboration contexts hence paving the way to the launch of new projects on core business and long term strategic issues. Such agreements are now a reference point to the numerous collaborations that started up and are in the process of being fine tuned together with the two above mentioned Polytechnic Institutes.

In the Exploration & Production, the main objective of the strategic alliance with the two Institutes of Technology is to generate innovative ideas to solve very important problems in the activities of E & P Division and subsequently to generate technological innovation projects in order to bring high-impact technological discontinuity in the business.
Some of the topics so far examined include:

• innovative use of nanotechnology in the field of E&P, in particular for monitoring of pipeline and reservoir;
• innovative processes for separation of acid gases (CO₂ and H₂S), especially for wellhead separation; 
• implementation of effective barriers to prevent or retard water coning, increasing the operational life of the wells;
• satellite technologies for oil exploration;
• bio-molecular techniques for the exploration of hydrocarbon fields;
• new generation of seabed drilling technologies, to make quicker and less expensive subsoil investigations in the exploratory phase;
• innovative technologies for continuous environmental monitoring around offshore facilities by undersea remote-operated vehicles;
• innovative technologies for the use of natural gas, for example through the use of non-thermal plasma for the production of liquid products.
  

In October 2008 Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni and Enel CEO Fulvio Conti signed a strategic cooperation agreement  to develop technologies for the capture, transport and geological sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO₂ ) and for the joint construction of Italy's first project in this area. With this agreement the two energy companies are joining forces to find real solutions to the GHG problem and will offer to the country excellent technological skills and capabilities.

In March 2011, at the Enel centre in Brindisi, the capture pilot plant was inaugurated; it will produce carbon dioxide, that after being liquefied, will be delivered at the Stogit site, located in Cortemaggiore (Piacenza) and used for the storage of natural gas since over 40 years. The CO₂ will be injected at 1500 m deep and permanently sequestered. The objective for Eni is to accrue the necessary know-how to design future applications of the technology on a large scale.

The capture, transport and geological sequestration of CO₂ (CCS -Carbon Capture and Storage), along with research on high-efficiency solar and new generation nuclear power generation, is one of the most promising solutions for achieving a balance between different and equally vital needs: to have enough energy for the needs of human development (almost two billion people worldwide have no electricity) at competitive costs, respecting the environment.

Eni has expertise in the sequestration of CO₂  in geological sites such as depleted oil and gas deposits, deep saline aquifers, etc., while Enel has expertise in the capture of CO₂, where it launched two demonstration projects and is conducting assessment activities for potential geological storage in areas close to its facilities.

If the feasibility study will give positive results, Eni and Enel intend to jointly define a "National Plan" for the capture, transport and storage of CO₂  for the attention of Italian government and institutions and European authorities.
In particular, the companies will undertake a joint assessment of national options for sequestration of CO₂, both off-shore and on-shore, and for the realization of one or several pilot projects involving the integration of units of capture, transport and sequestration of CO₂.

About 80 collaborations focused on developing technologies of extraction and production of hydrocarbons and around 30 more on the development of hydrocarbon conversion in final energy products have been launched.
The collaborations involving extraction and production are almost equally divided among Italian, British and North American universities. The ones involving conversion are mainly handled by Italian universities.