Eni and Mercuria form joint venture to scale energy trading
The Italian major is seeking to close the profit gap with its European peers through an independent venture focused on physical energy markets.
Nao Fujita
Jul 1, 2026 · 1 min read
Italian energy major Eni has entered a 50-50 partnership with Mercuria, the Swiss trading house, to establish an independent commodities trading business. The venture is designed to trade oil, gas, liquefied natural gas, and biofuels, positioning Eni to capture margins that have historically been dominated by the vast internal trading desks of rivals like Shell, BP, and TotalEnergies. These internal units have frequently functioned as stabilizers, generating significant profit during periods of high price volatility and supply chain dislocation.
The decision to partner with an established merchant like Mercuria, rather than building a standalone desk entirely in-house, suggests a move toward immediate scale. By operating independently, the new entity aims to leverage Mercuria’s logistical infrastructure and Eni’s upstream production assets. This restructuring of Eni’s commercial strategy follows a period of significant market volatility in the Middle East, where the ability to navigate physical supply shifts has become as consequential to the balance sheet as the extraction of the raw materials themselves.