Italy-based energy multinational, Eni has hinted that Northern African countries would be Italy’s main gas suppliers for the next few years.

Eni’s head of natural resources, Guido Brusco told journalists on Tuesday that the firm would invest heavily in Africa both in exploration and in new low-carbon projects.

According to Brusco, the company anticipates that Algeria and Egypt will play a larger role over the coming years in addition to Libya and many sub-Saharan nations like the Republic of Congo and Angola.

Eni is making multi-billion dollar investments in this situation to ensure exports to Italy serve the African market, and prepare to send additional gas to Europe.

“Fields are declining but 80% of global energy demand is still based on fossils, so while cleaner sources are being developed it’s necessary to manage oil and gas reduction… particularly in Africa where the population is growing and development is accelerating,” Brusco said.

Eni will invest roughly $3.5 billion over the course of four years in Egypt, where its production last year averaged 346-kilo barrels of oil equivalent per day(KBOED), Brusco said, dismissing concerns about production problems at the Zohr field.

Eni’s production in Algeria increased from 95 KBOED to over 120 KBOED this year, with the field performing better than other larger fields in Russia. The energy firm anticipates investing $8 billion in Libya, where 165 KBOED was generated last year.

With regards to sub-Saharan Africa, Brusco is focusing the Baleine project in the Ivory Coast, a flagship project for Eni that aims to build the first gas and oil field with net zero emissions on the whole continent.

“The production started last month, less than two years after the discovery, and is going very well,” he said.

Eni is the continent’s largest foreign petrol producer, with more than 90% of the fuel the company mined in 2022 sold on the African market.