Italy’s Eni said on Wednesday it’s looking forward to a recovery in oil and gas demand, while continuing to pursue its energy transition plans, Kallanish Energy reports.

The energy company reported a €503 million net loss attributable to its shareholders during the third quarter, compared to a €523 million net profit a year earlier. Yet, the results were a great improvement on the €4.40 billion loss recorded in the previous quarter.

“In a market environment that remains challenging, we are continuing to successfully mitigate the negative impact of this crisis and making progress with our decarbonization strategy,” said CEO Claudio Descalzi. “We achieved excellent results during the quarter, clearly exceeding market expectations in the face of a 30% decline in oil and gas prices, and a 90% decline in refining margins.”

Eni said its global gas & LNG segment achieved significant results in a quarter that’s traditionally weaker seasonally, as optimization of the gas and LNG assets portfolio, leveraged elevated price volatility.

Natural gas sales were down 5% year-on-year to 15.98 billion cubic meters (Bcm), due to lower lifts from some long-term supply contracts. Natural gas production declined by 13% y-o-y to 4.69 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), but were in line with volumes in Q2.

The decline reflected lower production in Libya and the impact of lower gas demand in certain areas, particularly Egypt, and LNG demand. These were partially offset by the growth in Nigeria due to increasing activity and Algeria due to the start-up of the Berkine gas project, Eni said.

Q3’s gas prices were 23% lower than last year, with Eni realizing an average price of $3.44 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf). Prices were in line with Q2 levels.

“Faced with a crisis of unprecedented proportions, Eni has demonstrated great resilience and flexibility,” said Descalzi, adding the company is looking forward to continuing growing its green business.

Eni said it’s committed to decarbonizing hard-to-abate industrial emissions and generating new business opportunities. The company is behind the first carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the Mediterranean – the Adriatic Blue project, in Ravenna, Italy — which is set to start a demonstration in 2022 and be fully operational in 2026.

 It’s also involved in CCS projects in the UK – the Liverpool Bay and the Teeside projects, set to start up in 2025.

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