Eni and PETRONAS Sign Agreement to Study High-Performance Bio-Gasoline

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 7, Eni and PETRONAS signed a feasibility agreement during the 2026 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix to jointly evaluate development options for high-performance bio-gasoline. The collaboration between the two parties remains at the stage of technical and commercial feasibility studies and has not yet entered commercial production or fuel supply phases.

Under the agreement, the two parties plan to develop a new bio-gasoline based on Eni's existing Ecofining™ technology and assess its technical performance, market conditions, sustainability indicators, and applicability in high-performance engines. The project will initially target testing and application in motorsport, while also evaluating conditions for subsequent commercialization.

Eni will provide its Enilive biorefining business, biofuel production, and bio-gasoline R&D expertise; PETRONAS will contribute fuel formulation, high-performance internal combustion engine fuel, and advanced product development capabilities. The agreement did not disclose the project's investment amount, trial scale, specific production locations, or delivery timeline for initial test fuels.

Eni has previously advanced R&D in high-performance bio-gasoline technology. Its publicly available technical materials show that the company has developed a bio-gasoline route using HVO bio-naphtha fractions produced via the Ecofining process as feedstock, with related products developed through refinery reforming, isomerization, and advanced cellulosic ethanol blending. This route is designed to meet the EN 228 gasoline standard and the fuel requirements for the 2026 Formula 1 season.

Eni and PETRONAS are also jointly involved in the Pengerang biorefinery project in Johor, Malaysia, through Enilive and Euglena. The project is planned to achieve a processing capacity of up to 650,000 tonnes per year of renewable feedstock by the second half of 2028, with products including sustainable aviation fuel, HVO diesel, and bio-naphtha. The two parties have not yet confirmed whether this biorefinery will serve as the production site for the high-performance bio-gasoline project.