In Basilicata, the region with the largest number of water sources in southern Italy, Eni operates the Val d’Agri Oil Centre (COVA), Western Europe’s largest onshore oil field. The field is located partly within a Natura 2000 protected area. The facility processes tens of thousands of barrels of oil and gas daily and uses up to 1.5 million litres of water per day. The region now experiences severe droughts every autumn, and the plant is now considered a significant contributor to environmental degradation and resource depletion, despite having once been seen as a promise of economic growth. According to locals, the remaining water is unsafe.
“Pollution has become part of our daily lives,” says Giuseppe Rosato, a local vet. According to an anonymous source, most residents of the valley have chosen to leave, often accepting compensation offers from the oil industry. “You can’t speak out against oil around here,” says a local dairy farmer whose workplace is just a few steps from Eni’s wells. He is forced to live and work with their presence every day.
In Aggah, in the Niger Delta, residents claim that the annual flooding they experience is man-made and linked to the infrastructure and activities of the Italian company Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), which arrived in the community in 1965. In the early 1970s, NAOC constructed 40,000-square-foot earthen embankments at its three oil wells in Aggah to support the wellheads. The company later built elevated access roads connecting these embankments. However, these structures have obstructed the natural streams that once flowed through Aggah into the Oloshi River. This has caused the water to back up and flood farmlands and residential areas every year, usually during the rainy season from July to September, and sometimes extending to November in parts of the community.
“My house has been badly affected,” says Felix Akudini, a 74-year-old resident. “Every year, I repaint the damaged parts and buy cement to fix the floor again.”
Aggah's creeks and fields have been poisoned by repeated oil spills, wiping out fish stocks and crops and raising serious health concerns. Drawing on expert input, on-the-ground evidence and interviews, this investigation documents alleged incidents of responsibility on the part of NAOC (Eni’s Nigerian subsidiary), how the company has responded, and discrepancies between court orders and actual remediation efforts. Consequently, families are left with unsafe water, shrinking livelihoods and limited alternatives.
Local leaders recall how their communities fought to hold Eni’s subsidiary accountable.
“They are, unfortunately, a multinational oil company whose goal is to maximise profit,” says traditional ruler Chukwudi Ekigbo.
In both Italy and Nigeria, Eni’s extractive model consistently results in environmental damage, mismanagement of water resources and corporate impunity. Communities are left to endure the long-term consequences of a global system that prioritises profit over people and ecosystems.
Image by Ekpali Saint: Loggers arranged logs on the river in Ikebiri, Bayelsa State.
