Ludoil plans €1.3 billion investment at ISAB refinery

The antitrust approval and the review under the European Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) were completed without any conditions. A little over four months elapsed between the announcement of the agreement on 13 May 2026, and the closing: an unusually short timeframe for a transaction of exceptional complexity, which attests to the determination with which the public entities involved managed every phase of the transaction to safeguard citizens’ energy supplies and energy security.

Ludoil assumes industrial leadership and management of the refineries located in Priolo, Melilli,, and Syracuse, all in italy. The asset’s value, in terms of enterprise value, is €1 billion. Financial support, backed by a SACE guarantee, was provided by BPER and UniCredit, acting as Global Coordinator, Mandated Lead Arranger, and Bookrunner, and by MPS as Mandated Lead Arranger; BPER Corporate & Investment Banking also acted as Agent Bank, coordinating the transaction in dealings between the lending banks and SACE. The joint participation of the three institutions reflects the Italian banking system’s ability to support long-term industrial investments.

The business plan has two main components. The first ensures full efficiency of the refinery’s infrastructure through the recommissioning and modernisation of certain decommissioned process units, including: primary distillation and hydrodesulfurisation (HDS) at the North site, solvent deasphalting (SDA) at the IGCC-South site, and thermal cracking, also at the South site. The restart will increase processing capacity and shift production toward distillates with lower sulfur and carbon content. The second focus is the transition to biofuels, which will begin in July 2026 with co-processing at the FCC unit on the North site. A vertically integrated supply chain, using non-food vegetable oils, will produce biogasoline, SAF, and HVO, initially in existing facilities and later in dedicated units. The plan calls for capital investments of approximately €1.3 billion over the next five years.

The current workforce will remain unchanged. Over the five-year revitalisation period, capital projects will involve approximately 1000 additional employees – including engineers, logistics specialists, and construction workers – from all over Italy. Once fully operational, the facility will require approximately 100 new technicians and skilled workers; ISAB’s collaboration with Sicily’s higher technical education system will be crucial.

The integration of ISAB completes Ludoil’s value chain, making it Italy’s largest privately owned multi-energy company , with expected consolidated revenues of approximately €13 billion annually. The ISAB Refinery is at the heart of this operation, receiving crude oil and organic raw materials and processing them into fuels and biofuels; biomethane plants and energy production from renewable sources extend the company’s scope beyond refining; coastal storage terminals, stretching from the north to the south of the country, ensure storage capacity and a local presence; and the nationwide network of gas stations delivers products directly to the end consumer.

Ludoil handled the transaction entirely in-house. GOI Energy was advised by BonelliErede.

At its first shareholders’ meeting, ISAB appointed a new three-member board of directors. Paolo Fedeli, an engineer and CEO, and Marco Russo Spena, an attorney, were appointed by the majority shareholder; Fabio Cadeddu, an attorney, was appointed by the minority shareholder.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/24092026/ludoil-plans-13-billion-investment-at-isab/