Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Eni's 2023 Fourth Quarter and full-year results conference call, hosted by Mr. Claudio Descalzi, Chief Executive Officer. For the duration of the call, you will be in listen-only mode. However, at the end of the call, you will have an opportunity to ask questions by pressing star and one on your telephone. To remove your questions, please press star and two. I am now handing you over to your hosts to begin today's conference. Thank you.
Thank you. Good afternoon and welcome to our 2023 full-year and Q4 result presentation. 2023 was an excellent year for Eni. Our continuous focus has been on mitigating the impact of a market characterized by price and margin volatility, as well as a critical geopolitical context. We maintain a direction aligned with our strategy and successfully achieved or beat our targets for the year while also improving the efficiency of our assets. This resulted in the second-best financial performance by Eni in its current structure. Our aim was to capture strong results but also to foster our growth ambitions, meaning we also advanced our transition strategy very significantly. It has been a very active year, so now let's go through the highlights. In the upstream, we brought on-stream two important operated projects in line with our fast-track model of phased development.
Baleińe phase I started production at the end of August, less than 18 months from the FID. At the end of December, we announced the first production of gas into the Tango facility at our Congo LNG project, only 12 months after sanction. Key to our E&P strategy is feeding in new advantaged resources from our industry-leading exploration. The highlight was Geng North, the largest commercial discovery in the industry last year. Indonesia will become an area of major focus for our upstream in the coming years, benefiting from a network of facilities with spare capacity that will help to fast-track future production at competitive costs. But Indonesia was not a standalone success. In fact, our Nargis exploration well in Egypt, offshore, was also a top five discovery.
A distinctive feature of Eni's strategy is our organic model, but also focused portfolio management plays a critical role as we shape our business. Undoubtedly, our highest-profile deal was the purchase of Neptune, announced in June and completed at the end of January, a few months earlier than expected. I will update you a little more on that shortly. We are constantly looking to high-grade our portfolio also via divestment, and in the year, we announced the sale of non-core producing assets in Congo and Nigeria onshore, both of which were approaching completion. In December, we were delighted to announce the investment by Energy Infrastructure Partners into Plenitude, providing new and aligned capital to support its growth path while also confirming and valorizing part of the value we have already created.
The satellite model of which Plenitude is an example, with its circa EUR 10 billion of enterprise value, is a key enabler for Eni to sustain growth and deliver shareholder value across the multiple energy vectors we are focused on. In Enilive, our purchase of a 50% stake in the Chalmette Biorefinery in the U.S. marked a new stage in establishing a leading international and integrated biorefining business. In addition, we acquired full control of Novamont, a market leader in the biochemical sector, which will become another pillar in our strategy of transformation. In CCS, we reached an agreement with the U.K. government on key terms of the economic, regulatory, and governance model for the transportation and storage of CO2 on HyNet.
This is a major step forward for a line of business that will be increasingly important over the coming years and where Eni has a leading European position. The progress we have made from a strategic perspective was also echoed in Eni's operating performance. Full-year production of 1.655 million barrels per day in the upper end of the guided range and 3% higher year-on-year. We discover around 900 million barrels of new resources, which more than covers 2023 production. Amid lower European demand of gas, our GGP was effective in meeting customer needs in the absence of Russian volumes and also recorded the highest result in its history. Plenitude ended the year with a 3 GW of installed renewable capacity, up by more than one-third year-on-year and in line with guidance.
2023 biorefineries throughputs were up almost 60% year-on-year, while biofuel capacity at 1.65 million tonnes per year was 50% higher after our U.S. acquisition. Our upstream net carbon scope one and two footprint fell by 10% in 2023 and is now down by 40% versus the 2018 baseline, in line with our aim to net zero in the upstream by 2030. Turning to our financial results, the news is also positive. EBIT performance of EUR 17.8 billion, including EUR 4 billion from Associates, is the second-highest result in the history of the company in its current form. Net profit of EUR 8.3 billion converts to EUR 16.5 billion of CFFO and both confirm the historical top end of our yearly performance.
In fact, these excellent results reflect a very significant improvement versus our expectations, around EUR 3.5 billion on EBIT and EUR 2 billion on cash flow that offset the impact of the weaker scenario. CapEx of EUR 9.2 billion was below our budget of EUR 9.5 billion, confirming that we are efficiently investing in the context of a rigorous capital discipline. We stepped up share buybacks in the fourth quarter to EUR 719 million, totaling EUR 1.8 billion for the year, with around EUR 400 million to finish our program in Q1. Our full payout is equivalent to around 32% of our 2023 adjusted CFFO, above our original guidance. Shares in issue are down 9% over the past two years, enhancing the participation in a business that is also increasingly bigger and better.
Indeed, in the past two years, Eni has distributed almost EUR 11 billion to its shareholders, the highest amount since our listing. Leverage at 20% remains low by historical standards, and the balance sheet provides us with flexibility to pursue our strategy while retaining considerable resilience. That is an overview of the strategic, operational, and financial delivery for the year. I'll now move on to the business division in a little more detail. Starting with ENP, production for the full year was 1.66 million barrels per day, up 3% year-on-year and up 6% in the quarter to 1.71 million barrels per day. In the quarter, we saw higher activity in Algeria, seasonal effects in the North Sea, and the benefit of strong regularity in Kazakhstan, Baleińe ramp-up, and better performance and entitlement in Libya.
Full-year pro forma EBIT in ENP of EUR 13.3 billion mainly reflects the impact of lower prices when compared with 2022, partly compensated by higher volumes, while Q4 earnings include higher impairment write-offs, which is typical of the quarter. GGP reported EBIT of EUR 680 million in Q4, benefiting from a favorable outcome to an arbitration in the quarter, but with the underlying result muted by lower gas prices and reduced trading flexibility as we had expected it to be. Record full-year EBIT of almost EUR 3.3 billion took the benefit of strong optimization activity in the first half of the year, in particular highlighting the leverage to favorable conditions that GGP retains by virtue of its diverse supply and infrastructure position. Our Neptune acquisition was one of the key events of 2023.
After announcing the deal in late June, we achieved completion on the 31st of January for an investment of $2.4 billion in cash-out and debt acquired, adjusted down from the headline of $2.6 billion as a result of the cash flows accruing since the deal's reference date. Net production consolidated directly by Eni and through our share of Vår Energi is currently over 100,000 barrels per day. The high proportion of gas production currently, around 75%, in the low Scope one and two emission profile precisely align with our strategic direction. The value proposition is clear, with synergies estimated at $0.5 billion and with material upside, which includes the new discovery of Geng and the higher share of IDD field in Indonesia, additional gas supply optimization, and potential CCUS projects. Our portfolio activity will also progress as we continue to high-grade with announced divestment in West Africa to complete in 2024.
Turning to energy evolution, Enilive reported around a 10% improvement in EBIT year-on-year, despite weaker product markets, mainly reflecting improved biorefinery performance both in terms of asset optimization and feedstock flexibility, confirming our vertically integrated model is delivering. With activities now in eight countries, agri-feedstock production has increased to more than 40,000 tonnes per year, and it is on track to provide meaningful earnings over time. Our refining earnings were impacted by the fall in the SERM, but also by the narrowing in light, heavy, and sweet-sour differentials. Our chemicals' results reflect the very challenging market conditions, especially for European manufacturers, and confirm our strategic intent to transform this business and also to increase focus on specialties and bioplastics. Plenitude delivered on its target for installed renewables capacity of 3 GW at year-end, up by more than 1/3.
Renewable energy production actually grew more, up by over 50%. But more importantly, Plenitude delivered financial results with a full-year EBIT up 50% year-over-year to over EUR 500 million and EBITDA up 40% year-over-year to over EUR 900 million. After the remarkably strong first month, Q4 EBIT, as expected, made a more moderate contribution, reflecting higher depreciation charges as new renewable capacity and EV charging points enter service. The 2023 result of Plenitude came in the context of another highly volatile and challenging year for energy suppliers and again emphasized the quality of the model. This fact is recognized in the enterprise value of EUR 10 billion placed on the business by the recent agreement with Energy Infrastructure Partners to invest in Plenitude.
Before concluding, I would like to highlight the key results of the year that exceeded all the original metrics, both operating and financial, right across the business. This strong financial outcome, driven by the operating performance of the underlying businesses and the delivery of significant strategic progress, all helped in an outcome where we delivered the best shareholder returns among our peers group in 2023. We will update on our strategic progress and future targets when we meet again on the 14th of March for our Capital Markets Day. We will elaborate on how Eni is embracing the changes in energy markets to build a stronger company, leverage the growth potential of new business, while preserving the full value of traditional sources, themes that are evident in our 2023 result. And now, with our top manager, we are ready to answer your question.
As a reminder, please press star and one for questions. We will pause for a moment while participants join the queue. The first question is from Biraj Borkhataria of Royal Bank of Canada.
Hi. Thanks for taking my question. The first one is on the chemicals business. You've suffered weak results for several quarters in a row now, and it's obviously been quite a tough environment for European chemicals. What more can you do to stop the bleeding there? Can you talk about some of the plans in place that you can control? And secondly, the question is on Egypt. This is a big country for Eni, and obviously, the country's having a number of issues on the financing front. What do you expect for the summer in terms of LNG exports? And also, have you adjusted the activity levels at all given the issues with payments? And maybe you can talk about the receivables balance as it stands today. Thank you.
Just a few more about chemicals, and then I give the floor to Alfani that is CEO of Versalis. No, we are conscious about chemicals. We tried in the past, and we continue trying to change some line, but now it's time to consider more radical initiatives that are going through a transformation in the same way we did for our biorefineries. So we have to transform the plan. Clearly, the direction to go to biochemicals, also in light of the acquisition we made of Novamont and also the other project that we developed, implemented from our R&D, that is one, but it's not enough. Go through all especially is not enough. So we have to do some more strong action because it's really an area where we can create a huge value.
Now I can give the floor to Adriano to maybe elaborate a little bit more on this topic.
Sure. Thanks, Claudio. Thanks for the question. I mean, first of all, as Claudio was saying, we need to go extremely bullish in terms of efficiency of the entire business. Clearly, we have some case of inefficiency that has been increased due to the recent situation that we are facing in Europe. And of course, in some cases, we are getting a little more inefficient. So we are developing a stronger process in order to improve our efficiency across the entire value chain, entire process. But in terms of the other three pillars that we are focusing on, one is the specialization portfolio with the recent acquisition of a FIM project and some other development in relation of integration of the business with our portfolio. We decided to further speed up the growth in terms of specialization diversification of the portfolio. So this is one. The second one is circularity.
We are moving very fast on circularity. This year, we are going to start the phase I of the mechanical recycling in Porto Marghera. By the end of 2024, we expect to complete the construction of the first chemical recycling plant in Mantova. It's a pilot plant or semi-industrial plant with the intention then to speed up in terms of industrial processes. Of course, as also Claudio was saying about the acquisition of Novamont, the acquisition of Novamont is another big cluster to differentiate and to grow this platform not only in the direction Novamont was already doing, but also integrating the portfolio with our specialized portfolio and so to really double-digit the growth in terms of biochemistry.
Thank you, Adriano. So a few more about Egypt. Then I give the floor to Guido, head of natural resources. So first of all, clearly, Egypt is passing through, as all North Africa and Middle East, through a quite difficult situation in light of the event we had now with Gaza. So clearly, it's not in a very simple situation. In spite of that, I have to say that Egypt is reacting. And we have to say also that Egypt is quite crucial, important, critical in the area for everybody, for the Mediterranean, for North Africa, for Middle Eastern. So what I think and what is my perception that everybody is trying now to help them. So saying that if you talk about receivable, there is a small marginal buildup. They are paying maybe less, little installment that they are paying.
So there is a willingness to preserve and protect investors. So there is a very positive attitude. So now I give the floor to the question is also about LNG because the cargo we receive in January and the rest. So now Guido is talking a bit more elaborate on LNG.
Yeah. On LNG, the question was in the summer, I think. The summer, historically, there is very little, if no export in Egypt given the high increase in the domestic demand. Currently, in the past couple of months, the end of Q4 2023, because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there was a reduction, sharp reduction of the import to Israel. So the export of LNG in Egypt was impacted. In December, they restarted with some volumes. And we have seen, I mean, from E&I side, three cargoes in December. And we are foreseeing between eight-10 cargo in the forthcoming months before the end of the winter season.
Thank you.
The next question is from Clint Oswald of Bernstein.
Good afternoon. Thank you. Yeah. First question, I mean, a bit of a step up in gearing towards the end of the year. So I wanted just to get your thoughts around divestments and really the potential for more sizable or more aggressive upstream-focused divestments. I mean, still a lot of continued exploration success. You're folding in Neptune. It feels like you've been buying a lot. So maybe a good time to start selling some of what is a high-quality inventory. It could free up capacity to potentially signal some peer-leading shareholder returns all the way through the plan and keep the balance sheet flexibility that Claudio just mentioned around executing the strategy. So that's the first question. Secondly, I wanted to ask about SAF, Sustainable Aviation Fuel.
I remember the great trip we had last year in Venice, and we talked about SAF upside of up to 2 million tons per annum based on demand. It seems like demand is taking off. You've had this more sizable Ryanair deal recently, much more material than the DHL deal a couple of years ago. So the question is, are you starting to see SAF customer demand track at the high end of your expectations? And really, I'd love to get an idea of the price you're selling this for. Is this three times jet fuel? Is this five times jet fuel? It's hard to get an idea of what this might mean financially for the company. Thank you.
Thank you for the question. So the first question is for Francesco, and the second one for Stefano. Yes.
Okay. Thank you. The question is about the gearing. Clearly, you have seen a step up in the quarter. The quarter increase was expected. Actually, we had a result that was in line with our target. Taking into account that there were some, let's say, variation in the exchange rate that was a bit more higher for the Euro and also because of the lack of the income that we are expecting to come before the end of the year related to Plenitude. Anyway, that increase was generated mainly by the inclusion of Novamont debt after the acquisition, some, as we said, the exchange rate effect, and some cash related to leasing. In the plan, what you are going to expect is clearly exactly what you are mentioning.
If you remember, the past plan was a plan where we had a relatively balance in our, let's say, management of portfolio with only EUR 1 billion of positive effect. And that was originated by the fact that we are still in a position where we are buyer, while you will see that in the coming plan, you will have more, let's say, a stronger valorization of our assets the upstream with all the discovery that we have made and continuing to make and on the satellites that, as you well know, is a way also to accumulate cash in advance for fueling our future growth. So you will see a material impact of M&A, and this will have a clear, strong effect on the net amount of CapEx we are going to pay.
Stefano for SAF trends and.
Yes. Yes. On SAF, I definitely confirmed the trend we discussed even in Venice. So we are seeing exactly what you see, let's say, voluntary demand coming in place with increasing target. Just to make some examples, we see airline companies targeting 10% at 2030 and logistic players targeting up to 30% still at 2030. In Europe, we got refuel aviation already approved. It means starting from 2025, 2% of global fuel will be biojet. This means more than 1 million tons, let's say, from one day to the other. On top, recently, the IEA set an increased target for biojet demand already in 2027 by up to 30% and definitely confirmed a 50 million tons at 2030. Just give a high-level number. In 2050, we see 500 million tons of jet fuel. Even assuming only 20% of biojet, we jump at 100 million tons of biojet demand.
This means that the market is going to be in strong demand for biojet. Given the time to get facility in place, we are in a very good position to take advantage from this tight market we are going to see in the medium term.
The thing you could say about pricing? Sorry.
Yeah. No. Pricing and profitability is expected around 1.3-1.5 above HVO. This is not right now. Right now, it's higher, but it's given to the very, very short market. So today doesn't make too much sense to look at current number. Reason for that is exactly what I said. The market is going to be short in terms of supply given the current state of the art and the expected demand evolution on the other side. So that's the profitability we are going to expect. So good boost on our results in the next future.
Thank you.
The next question is from Alessandro Pozzi of Mediobanca.
Hi there. I have two questions. The first one is related to the production in Q4, which was really strong. I was wondering if you can give us more color on the various moving parts. What I've seen is that Kazakhstan was very strong and also North Africa had a big jump quarter-over-quarter. Part, I believe, was Algeria, but maybe also Libya. So if you can give us some color on whether maybe that could be sustainable going into 2024. And also, I think Zohr as well, Egypt, the production from Egypt is coming down a little bit. And what should we expect from Zohr in terms of production going forward? The second question is on Cronos, the recent positive results on the appraisal well. Is that a catalyst for developing Cronos on a standalone basis?
Or if not, can you give the thoughts on where we are on Cyprus in terms of moving those resources forward? Thank you.
That's all questions for Guido. So please, Guido.
Indeed. I mean, you spotted rightly. The production in Q4 was strong, and this was thanks to the ramp-up of Baleińe, the recovery maintenance in Kazakhstan, higher contribution from Libya. This production, as we move in 2024, in Q1 will be quite in line. The net portfolio effect will be partially compensated by lower entitlement in certain geographies. And while for what concerns the Cronos, we can, of course, confirm that the recent appraisal well gave us comfort on the extension of the field, confirming the upper side of the estimation. Well deliverability is excellent. And of course, we are still assessing with our partner and the authority the best and most appropriate development scheme to bring these resources into production.
Thank you.
The next question is from Matt Smith of Bank of America.
Hi there. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. A couple, please. The first one would be on GGP, another extraordinary year for the division. But I suppose arbitration award aside in 4Q, it's very much been a year of two 1/2 in regard to profitability. So just wondered whether you could sort of speak to the current market conditions in terms of arbitrage opportunities and also touch upon the sort of visibility you have into 2024. And then the second one on exploration was just whether there was any news on the Orion 1X well in Egypt or whether that should be due soon. Any timeline there would be useful, please. Thanks.
Okay. Cristian Signoretto for GGP, please.
So thanks for the questions. Surely, 2023 has been a very unusual, let's say, year and exceptional year because of important optimization in trading opportunities and also positive arbitration and settlements results. When we look at 2024, clearly, I mean, the market has been reducing its flat price, and this is, let's say, you can see that. But we feel that the volatility is still there because the market is very tight in the sense that demand and supply are very finely balanced because new LNG coming on stream is very little, and demand is still very latent. If you look at European demand, Asian demand, and also weather-driven demand, it's still very latent. So we expect 2024 still to be a very volatile year with opportunities to be captured via trading optimization activities.
Okay. So I think that on Egypt, it's very fast because we are drilling, so we cannot say anything. Is correct?
Yes. Correct. I mean, we have yet to reach the target.
Thank you.
The next question is from Irene Himona of Société Générale.
Thank you. Good afternoon. On the upstream, I see that you now recognize the U.K. energy profit levy as a recurring item. I wonder if you can provide some guidance on the EMP tax rate going forward, inclusive of this in the current environment. And secondly, on the numbers, the fourth-quarter net interest expense you had, EUR 54 million, was down very substantially, over 50% sequentially. And you referred to the drivers in your press release. I wonder if we can anticipate this level to be sustainable in 2024. Thank you.
Thank you, Irene. On the U.K. levy, we kept this since the start as a recurring item. We consider this due to the fact there is no expiration date, but there is a general sentence related to the potential price for the removal to consider that in a recurring way. We are not able yet to provide you what will be the tax rate in the plan. What we can tell you is that the impact of these taxes versus last year, taking into account the start at the end of last year, year-on-year basis, is in the range of 1%, 0.7%, 0.8%. On the net interest, we will be very happy if we continue, but unfortunately, it's not possible because you know that this is related to the financial asset that we have.
We have almost EUR 18 million of liquidity that are gaining from the benefit of the interest rate growth, while on the other side, we have 70%-75% of our gross debt that is at fixed rate. So if the interest rate will start to go down and you have to refresh new debt, this net interest will be higher. Anyway, we will manage. We will continue to use different tools to keep as low as possible to capture, let's say, as much as saving as possible through our liquidity positions.
Thank you.
The next question is from Giacomo Romeo of Jefferies.
Yes. Thank you for taking my question. First is a very quick follow-up on your comments, earlier comments, on GGP. I understand you are expecting to see more volatility in 2024. Just trying to understand how to read into the Q4 numbers if we take out the impact from the arbitration, should that be a good indication of a normalized level of profitability in the absence of significant volatility? Second question is on Plenitude. We have seen some comments during last month from your future partners that they're sort of talking down the prospects of an IPO of the business. Just wanted to check whether this is still the ultimate goal for Plenitude for you and whether there is full alignment on this point with your future partners.
Thank you. So the first one is for Christian. The second one for Francesco.
So, well, I mean, in general, our results, it's, let's say, geared towards usually the Q1. Q1 usually is the strongest period and quarter of our, let's say, portfolio optimization opportunities for a number of reasons that clearly are very much linked to the type of assets that we have in our portfolio. So I'd say that the Q4 underlying result is not a predictor of the Q1 because of this, let's say, seasonality effect that you have in our business.
Yes. On the Plenitude route to the IPO, I confirm that we continue to plan our valorization through the different sources, different way.
We mentioned at the beginning of the dual track, if you remember, we have already started to deliver the first of this track by the fact that substantially, we fixed a bar, a value that is one of the first elements for valorizing our satellite model specifically. And clearly, we will continue to monitor the market condition, market condition 2024 and 2025. Our partner that is yet, let's say, to enter in the entity, in the partnership, clearly, as mentioned, it's something that probably was, let's say, more generic and a bit misunderstood. He was thinking that it was not necessary to do the IPO. It doesn't mean that this is the plan. The plan will be to do the IPO at the right condition from the market and clearly to capture the best value from this opportunity.
Thank you.
The next question is from Michele Della Vigna of Goldman Sachs.
Thank you very much. Congratulations on the strong delivery and the exploration success. Two questions if I may. The first one is on.
Mr. Della Vigna, we can't hear you very well. Can you please speak closer to the microphone?
Sorry. Can you hear me now?
A bit better, but the line is not very good. Try again, Michele.
Is it even better?
Yeah, better now. Yeah.
Okay. Sorry for that. I want to ask you two questions. The first one. Clearly, increasing your capex in Europe and the LNG in the coming years. I was wondering if you could update us on what I think is the latest guidance for 2024. And my second question relates to carbon capture. We're seeing a lot of progress in Europe, much more policy support. You have one of the biggest development portfolios in the U.K., Italy. I was wondering if you could give us an update on the progress of that.
So, Michele, so we just understood the second but not really very well. We understood the one, an update on the carbon capture. The first one, absolutely, the line is so bad, and there are a lot of background noise, so we didn't understand the first one. Okay. Guido, give an update, please, on CCS.
I can give you, Michele, an update on our major CCS project. So for the Ravenna phase I, the project is in execution at the moment, and we are planning in early Q2 the startup. While for the phase II, the project I mean, we are now doing the engineering work, and we're also completing the legislative framework with the Italian government. The plan is to make a final investment decision by Q2 2025 and a startup in 2027. In U.K., you may have read that we have agreed with the U.K. authorities the main economic model, and we are now negotiating the definitive economic license, which we expect to finalize sometime in Q2, Q3 this year. Engineering works have been already done.
From a technical side, we are now in the procurement phase of the project, and the target is to make a cluster FID by Q3 2024 with a startup in 2027. Another important element is that in April, five emitters out of a total of eight, which have been selected by the U.K. authorities, belongs to the HyNet Northwest cluster. And those have been selected as priority emitters to access the fund made available by the U.K. government.
Okay. Thank you.
The next question, sir, is from Josh Stone of UBS.
Thanks. Hi. Good afternoon. Two questions, please. Firstly, on your biofuel business, I just noticed your throughput was down quarter on quarter despite the ramp-up of the PBF biorefinery. So was there maintenance impacting that, or any comments you can make there? And potentially also, if you could talk about where you see profitability in HVO today, given the impact of lower credit prices both in Europe and the U.S., how much of your feedstock program is able to offset that? And then second question on working capital. There was some release during the quarter, but if I go back over the last two years, there's sort of been a trend of about a EUR 4 billion build over the last two years. So how much of that do you think can release over the next period? Is there anything you can make any comments on that? Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Yes. On HVO and on bioproducts, 2024, it's a, let's say, transitionary year. This is well-known and well-expected. In Europe, we got Sweden change of obligation getting in place exactly this year. This is going to be partially compensated by a widespread increase in obligation in other countries, including, as an example, Italy, France, Holland, among others. In the medium term, we see still strong performance from biofuel demand for a set of reasons. I just touched the RED III directive, the Renewable Energy Directive that has been approved by EU end of last year. Countries are going to have 18 months to deploy it at country level. A number in terms of energy content is going to jump from 14% RED II to 29% RED III. Same in U.S. We got this year significant capacity getting in, well-known in advance. Demand is increasing linearly.
In 2025, we're going to get impact from, among others, two main topics. One is the new clean production credit that is going to substitute the current blending tax credit. The new credit is going to apply on local facilities. So this is going to, in a way, create a barrier to current import flow to the U.S. We have an estimated number of more than 1 million tons coming to the U.S. from foreign countries in 2023. The second point is the second element is CARB is expected to increase California's target in terms of GHG reduction from 20%-30% in 2030. And then last, just it's a small signal, but we got a couple of days ago, New Mexico is the first non-West Coast state in the U.S. approving an LCFS obligation mechanism. Again, 20% GHG reduction in 2030. So in the medium term, demand is definitely increasing and strong.
From an asset perspective, we are working on all key levers to optimize profitability at whatever market scenario, namely vertical integration, feedstock flexibility, and product diversification. We are also looking to move flows from U.S. to Europe wherever arbitrage are going to be open.
In terms of the working capital trend, it's very difficult to anticipate how it could be in the next quarters. Substantially, what we can do is or we can say that this is a matter related to the trend of prices. So once you have growing prices, there is generally an increase in your working capital position and clearly on your capability to lift, so to reduce your stock positioning both in the upstream and clearly also in the other sector, in particular in the downstream. So I would say that clearly, we were very active from this point of view. On the other side, we were helped by the price trend.
Got it. Thank you.
The next question is from Alejandro Vidal of Santander.
Hello. Hello. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two. One about the implications for Plenitude, the current scenario of lower power prices in Europe. This is going to have some implications in your strategy at this beginning of the year. The second question is about the outlook for refining in Europe. In this beginning of the year, we also seen some increase in refining margins in January, if you can elaborate on your thoughts on that. Thank you.
Okay. Stefano Goberti, CEO of Plenitude, answer the first question.
Thank you, Alejandro. On the energy price level, of course, on the renewable production, where we are spot prices, who will take the impact of the lower prices. But on the other side, on the retail activity, lower prices reduce a lot our risk in the portfolio because the volume risk is reduced and the working capital is released. So our combined business model helped us to pass through this period like we did this year with the result of 2023.
Fano?
Yes?
You are on?
Yes, sir.
Okay. Fano?
Yes. Could you hear me? Yes.
Yeah, yeah. Very well.
About the refining in Europe, in this first period of the year, we are seeing again very high volatility. In the last period, with the closure of SUET, of course, we have increased the spread related to the difference from diesel and Brent that are arriving more or less during the first phase of the war, Russia-Ukraine. It means a very high impact on the margin, on the traditional refining. Of course, what we expect in this year is that this volatility will continue, and probably, we could gain to this for some months waiting for the driving season when we will see the increase also of the market of gasoline. The results are quite good. Notwithstanding this, we will continue our strategy for the middle-long term because the traditional refining in Europe could not be very profitable in the middle-long term.
For this reason, we are continuing in the program of evolution and transformation of the traditional refining in biorefinery, maintaining the Middle East refining system that is less volatile and more stable in the profit.
Thank you.
The next question is from Lydia Rainforth of Barclays.
Hello. Thank you for taking the question. Two, please. Firstly, just in terms of the upstream and the FastTrack startup that's coming upstream, the Neptune acquisition coming into the portfolio, how do you think about the margin per barrel evolving as we go forward? I'm assuming that, actually, we should see that as incremental to it. And then secondly - and I appreciate it if you don't want to answer this question - but just around the conversations that the government is looking to sell part of the stake in Eni, would you kind of think about, when you're thinking about the buyback for 2024, whether Eni would want to be involved in at least offsetting some of that impact in terms of the market? Thank you.
Okay. So the first question, maybe I give some first answer, then I don't know if Guido wants to add something. Clearly, when we talk about the margin upstream, we have to go back to the fundamentals that are the cost because we cannot do anything on the price, the cost. So you must have a very low exploration cost. You must have a very low operating cost and a very low and very low development cost. So our cost in terms of exploration this year was approximately $1 per barrel discovered. We had a very exceptional year. We discovered a lot of resources, and that is the base. If you have to buy something like that, if you have to buy in the risk exploration, you have to spend much more. You have to spend around between $5, $6, or up to $10 per barrel.
Then you have the operating cost. Our operating costs remain in the lower side on the industry, about $6 per barrel. The development cost is ranging between $9-$10. Why? Because it's organic. It's also following our strategy. We develop near-field close to existing facilities. So that means they are well below. And that is also for the acquisition we made. They are well below in terms of unit technical cost, well below $18, $17 per barrel. So that helped the margin. And that's also the reason why the cash neutrality or the break-even of our upstream is very good. Clearly, when we make an acquisition, normally, we are organic, but we work also through acquisition when we have big synergies. We try to replicate and check and do due diligence that the assets we acquire are in line with our costs, and we are not diluting our costs.
The second one, the buyback, Francesco, sorry, Guido, you want to add something, or is it okay?
No. Above that, just the time to market that improves the return on the project.
Sure. Sure. You're right.
So the quality, as Claudio said, of our portfolio, but also our distinctive phased and FastTrack approach improves a lot the return on the project because of the very short time to market.
On the buyback, generally speaking about the distribution, you have seen that we announced last year the distribution policy between 25%-30%. Actually, we designed a distribution that was at 30% on the basis of the assumption of the cash flow we planned at the beginning of the year. Actually, we are working now in the range of 32%-33% of overall distribution yield. The buyback plan is substantially almost completed. We have accelerated in the last part of last year. So we proved to the market that we are flexible and positively flexible towards this metric. Clearly, any other distribution guidance will be disclosed in the next capital market day in the middle of March with all the plan related both on the dividend and the buyback.
Perfect. Thank you all. The next question is from Bertrand Hodée of Kepler Cheuvreux.
Yes. Hello. Before taking my question, I have two, if I may. I understand you will give us a full update on 14th of March with a new strategic plan on your medium-term targets. Sorry to be a bit impatient, but is there any element of 2024 guidance you would like to share with us at this stage? The second question is on UAE LNG opportunity. The UAE is likely to launch close to 10 million tons of LNGs this year, sanctioning the Ruwais LNG project. Would you be keen on participating? Meaning, I remember that when Qatar launched their extension, you were quite vocal. You would like to participate. Do you have the same appetite to potentially take a stake or be an off-taker on Abu Dhabi LNG project? Thank you.
So on the first question, what we can say just for the sake of clarity is about CapEx. What we want, really, to do is to be very focused on CapEx, on our expenditure. One means is M&A, but the other is to be efficient in CapEx, so reduce CapEx but keeping, in any case, the same level of profitability and returns on our operations. So that is an exercise on which we are working a lot. And so CapEx is so the gross CapEx will remain below EUR 9 billion, I can say, also if my people are not very happy, but that will be. And then net CapEx, much lower. That's what I can say. For Abu Dhabi, we are working. Abu Dhabi worked very well with ADNOC, and we are interested.
We are also developing gas and producing associated gas, but we are going to develop gas with Algeria. So it's something that we can have a look at, but I cannot tell you anything now. If I have to say something, I will say to Abu Dhabi and ADNOC and then to you. Thank you.
The next question is from Matt Lofting of JP Morgan.
Hi. Thanks for taking the questions and congratulations on strong execution through 2023. Two quick ones, if I could, please. First, exploration's clearly been a significant value lever for the company through recent history. I think you talked about Egypt earlier. Could you just talk about sort of 2024 more broadly or the next sort of six-12 months, any sort of key exploration opportunities that you have lined up within the portfolio and perhaps sort of next steps around Indonesia as well? And then secondly, just on GGP, the arbitration proceeds were a key component of the fourth quarter. Obviously, that's a lumpy component within the business. Can you just talk about how we should view that on a three-cycle basis and any further arbitration upside that you see over the medium term? Thank you.
The first question about arbitration and future development is Guido or Aldo that is in charge of exploration. Second one is Christian.
On exploration, I think you said it's one of the levers of the value creation in our company. The results this year were outstanding also in the past year and particularly in Indonesia. We have some high-impact wells ongoing at the moment. And of course, the results of those will happen soon. In 2024, we will continue our near-field ILX exploration in important basins that proved to be very effective and successful. Indonesia is one of the key areas. Geng North and the acquisition of the acreage around the discovery proved that that play, as well as other plays that we drilled in the past year, can deliver significant resources. When we made the discovery in Geng, we outlined also the potential of the area, which is in the region of tens of TCF.
As you may have appreciated, we have already anticipated that we will build a second hub in the north area and that together with the hub, John Creek, we have in the south with almost 750 million standard cubic feet per day. This new hub will bring a production which is approximately close to 2 billion standard cubic feet per day in the forthcoming year, which will have extended plateau because of the number of prospects that are around that. Other important areas, of course, are legacy areas like Egypt and others where we had our discovery. Norway also is an area where we have a significant acreage in exploration. But of course, the near-field nature of our discovery will also enable us to bring them quickly onstream. I wouldn't.
So quickly onstream and give us a possibility to go through, as Francesco said, through dual exploration. So it's a part of the plan because we discover a lot. We own between 80%-100% of all these discoveries also with what we acquire. So that is another important upside that we can have in our next four-year plan. So now we have Christian and then one more, and then we have Finished. Thank you very much.
In terms of renegotiation, as you can imagine, I mean, these are normal features of the midstream business. We have ongoing renegotiation in our portfolio with our contracts. We tend to clearly settle those amicably, but from time to time, it happens that we have to resort to arbitration or tribunal in order to seek a conclusion of that discussion. What I can tell you is that in 2024, we don't expect any outcome from any arbitration.
Thank you, Christian.
The next question is from Massimo Bonisoli of Equita.
Thank you. Two quick sets of questions. The first on the chemical business. I'd like to know how much of the negative performance of Versalis in Q4 is coming from the consolidation of Novamont. And given the still weak trading condition in Q1 2024 for chemical margin, is it reasonable to expect again a triple-digit loss for Q1 2024? And then a question on the refining business in Italy following the change in ownership of ISAB and now on Saras, together with the stop of traditional activity in Livorno. Could you share your thoughts on the supply of fuel on the domestic market and if this may represent an opportunity for Eni? Thank you.
Okay. Thanks for the question. On the chemical side, Novamont has been consolidated just for a quarter. So the impact of the fourth quarter is very minor and is not really representative because every time that you're in an acquisition, you have some transaction point of view. So it's really not representative of the performance in one quarter. About outlook for Q1, we don't give yet the outlook for Q1. But of course, it's not the three-digit. Yeah.
Thank you.
No, about the refining in Italy, of course, I mean, thing.
The refining in Italy. I ask Fano if he's still there.
Yes, sir. Yes, of course.
Okay. You're good, Fano. You are still available. Okay. You can.
Yes, yes. Okay. No, the refining in Italy in the refining in Italy, we have seen a lot of change in the last period, and two big refineries are moving to the trader ownership. What does this mean? That there is still an interest in the refining system in Italy, but at the same time, we have to consider that in any case, the profitability of the traditional refining system in Italy, also for Europe, is affected by the very high cost of energy, very high cost of CO2, very low size of the plant. So it's very, very difficult to maintain in the long term the profitability. The effect of the transformation of Livorno refinery in biorefinery helps to balance also the demand and offer in a market that is naturally declining in the mid-long term.
So what we expect to see in Italy is that in our system, more balance between production in the refining and consumption in the marketing in the retail system and wholesale system, we could gain the advantage to reduce the volatility because the volatility is when you have to offer the product on the cargo market. And the transformation of the traditional refinery into a biorefinery helps two times. First, because you enter in a new business very, very profitable as we have seen before. Second, you rebalance demand and offer in the traditional refining system. Very clear. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last question. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Goodbye.