Eni's digital transformation starts in Basilicata

Eni has chosen the Val d’Agri Oil Centre to become its first “Lighthouse”, a fully digitalised plant equipped with the most innovative technologies.

The Val d’Agri Oil Centre will be Eni's first digital plant in Italy

Ravenna, 27 March 2019 – Today, Eni presented its digital transformation plan at OMC 2019 in Ravenna. The plan outlines Eni’s intention to use digitalisation as an accelerator for the company’s integrated sustainable growth model, starting with the Val d’Agri Oil Centre (COVA). The use of sensors, the availability of a large amounts of data and the ability to process this in an extremely powerful way has enabled Eni to develop new technologies, principally those relating to Artificial Intelligence (AI). These technologies have enormous potential and can be used to support operational activities, bringing benefits in terms of security, asset integrity, environment and operational efficiency in particular.

Eni has chosen the Val d’Agri Oil Centre to become its first “Lighthouse”, a fully digitalised plant equipped with the most innovative technologies. Eni’s Viggiano Centre has been key to this journey. The facility has a considerable amount of data available and is one of the company’s most advanced and complete plants.

In order to build the Lighthouse, the site's operational staff have access to a "library" of tried and tested digital solutions and are responsible for selecting those that best meet the requirements of the specific site, demonstrating that there is always a skilled person at the heart of the digital transformation process.

A single control system (IOC-Integrated Operation Centre) provides access to all the information regarding the most relevant processes for the site, delivering operational signals which are generated by the digital solutions implemented at each facility.

The process to implement these digital solutions is supported by a major change management programme. These change management initiatives provide the necessary support for the site staff involved in the digital transformation process, helping to improve their skills and ensure new digital technologies are adopted effectively.