The Ravenna project, being developed by Eni and Snam, has secured funding for its second phase from the European Commission. This project is progressing with the goal of creating a large CO2 storage hub in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Italy.
Project Funding Details and Capacity
The Ravenna carbon storage project is among the large projects selected under the 2025 European Union Innovation Fund call for net-zero technologies. The project has responded to the invitation to prepare a grant agreement, although its partners have not yet disclosed the funding amount.
The expansion of this project is designed to increase the annual CO2 injection capacity to 4 million tons by 2030, with the potential to reach 16 million tons in later phases. Eni and Snam estimate that empty offshore gas reservoirs can hold about 500 million tons of CO2.
Proposed Network and Previous Phases
This proposed network will receive CO2 from industrial sources across Italy and other parts of Europe via pipelines, ships, rail, and road. The project continues based on an initial phase that was launched in 2024. In the first phase, approximately 25,000 tons of CO2 are collected annually from Eni's Casalborsetti gas treatment plant. The refurbished pipelines transport this gas to the offshore platform Porto Corsini Mare Ovest, where CO2 is injected into an empty reservoir at a depth of about 3,000 meters below the seabed.
The Ravenna project is also part of the cross-border carbon transport and storage initiative Callisto. This announcement follows the receipt of another significant award for marine carbon storage funding from the European Union. A Norwegian offshore producer, Aker BP, and marine infrastructure specialist Höegh Evi, received €223 million ($260 million) in funding for the Atlas project in the North Sea.
The Atlas project aims to inject CO2 collected from European industrial hubs into depths of over 2,000 meters below the seabed using special carriers. This project initially has a capacity of 6 million tons per year and may expand to over 10 million tons in the future. The Atlas project partners are seeking a final investment decision in 2028 and first injection in 2031.
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