Boosted by soaring oil prices and the strong economic recovery, Eni has had a prosperous year in 2021. The group published a net profit of 6.12 billion euros for 2021 on Friday, after suffering a loss of 8.63 billion euros in 2020.

The Italian hydrocarbon giant Eni recovered in 2021 and posted a result well above the consensus of analysts from Factset Estimates, which expected a profit of 4.29 billion euros. Like the oil majors, Eni took advantage last year of soaring hydrocarbon prices. Its competitors also posted insolent profits in 2021: ExxonMobil thus aligned a net result of 23 billion dollars, Shell announced profits of 20.1 billion dollars and BP earned 7.6 billion dollars. The annual turnover meanwhile jumped 74% to 76.57 billion euros, more than expected by analysts. Eni returned 2.8 billion euros to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.

Throughout 2021, but especially in the fourth quarter, the sector benefited from the rise in crude prices, which had fallen into negative territory in the spring of 2020. They rose back above the threshold of 90 dollars per barrel at the beginning February. The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in April lost 2.65% to 90.51 dollars on Friday.