ISAB srl

ISAB srl is an Italian energy company that owns and operates Italy's largest refining complex, located at Augusta on the east coast of Sicily. The complex is a strategic piece of Mediterranean infrastructure, positioned between Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and is described by the company as processing 320,000 barrels per day into fuels and biofuels, products for industry and electricity, moved almost entirely by sea. ISAB is a Ludoil Group company and presents itself as "the energy that moves Italy." The site is organised into two main production areas, the North Plants and the South Plants, which historically developed under separate ownership before being unified under the ISAB name. The North Plants are the gasoline production hub, with primary distillation (topping) of light and medium-heavy crudes and an FCC line comprising catalytic cracking, alkylation and MTBE; the site has two jetties in Augusta Bay. The complex also includes an IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) plant and significant storage and electrical capacity. In numbers, ISAB reports 320,000 barrels per day of refining capacity, 4,000,000 cubic metres of storage capacity, 600 MW of installed electrical capacity, approximately 1,000 direct employees and more than 2,000 contractor workers. A decree of the Italian Prime Minister of 3 February 2023 declared the ISAB complex to be of national strategic interest, noting that it accounts for more than a fifth of Italian refining and 20% of Sicilian electricity demand. The company is also moving into renewable fuels. Since July 2026 the site has produced HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) and SAF (sustainable aviation fuel), with a target of 500 kilotonnes per year of HVO and SAF by 2030. ISAB thus combines a large conventional refining base with an energy-transition strategy, leveraging decades of engineering know-how at Augusta while adding the skills the transition demands.

The history of the ISAB complex at Augusta, Sicily, begins in 1954, when the North Plants were founded under the name SINCAT, Società Industriale Catanese, by the Edison group. The site arrived at Augusta, on the east coast of Sicily, as a petrochemical settlement, in a period when the Italian chemical industry was looking for coastal sites close to the Mediterranean crude routes. The North Plants came on stream in 1960; their position on the commercial port set the logistics model of the site from the outset, built on sea transport, which would remain the defining trait of the complex in the decades that followed. In 1972 the South Plants were founded under the original name ISAB, Industria Siciliana Asfalti e Bitumi, within the orbit of the ERG group of the Garrone and Mondini families. The acronym would outlive every change of ownership and become the name of the whole complex. The South Plants started up in 1975 with a refining capacity of 11 million tonnes. The new site rose a few kilometres from the first, under different ownership, and for almost thirty years the two works operated separately along the same stretch of coast. In 1993 ERG and Edison Mission Energy set up ISAB Energy, with stakes of 51 and 49 per cent, to build the IGCC plant. The project tackled a problem every refinery knows: where to place the heaviest fractions of the barrel. The answer was to convert them into energy rather than sell them. In 1997 capacity at the South Plants rose from 11 to 12 million tonnes, following European demand shifting towards middle distillates and preparing the site for the fuel specifications the Union would introduce in the years that followed. In 2000 the IGCC came into operation and began producing electricity. The two sites, North and South, were eventually unified under the ISAB name, and the complex became Italy's largest refining complex. A decree of the Italian Prime Minister of 3 February 2023 declared the ISAB complex to be of national strategic interest, noting that it accounts for more than a fifth of Italian refining and 20% of Sicilian electricity demand, with around one thousand direct employees and more than two thousand in the contractor workforce. ISAB is now a Ludoil Group company. In the 2020s the company began a transition towards renewable fuels. Since July 2026 the site has produced HVO and SAF, renewable fuels for road and aviation, with a target of 500 kilotonnes a year of HVO and SAF by 2030. The complex today reports 320,000 barrels per day of refining capacity, 4,000,000 cubic metres of storage capacity and 600 MW of installed electrical capacity, processing fuels and biofuels, products for industry and electricity, moved almost entirely by sea.

• 2026

  Since July 2026 the site has produced HVO and SAF, renewable fuels for road and aviation.

• 2023

  A decree of the Italian Prime Minister of 3 February 2023 declares the ISAB complex to be of national strategic interest.

• 2000

  The IGCC comes into operation and begins producing electricity.

• 1997

  Capacity at the South Plants rises from 11 to 12 million tonnes.

• 1993

  ERG and Edison Mission Energy set up ISAB Energy to build the IGCC plant.

• 1975

  The South Plants start up with a refining capacity of 11 million tonnes.

• 1972

  ISAB is founded as Industria Siciliana Asfalti e Bitumi within the ERG group.

• 1960

  The North Plants come on stream.

• 1954

  The North Plants are founded under the name SINCAT, Società Industriale Catanese, by the Edison group.

Italy's largest refining complex and a cornerstone of national energy independence, combining conventional refining with renewable fuel production.

• Gasoline

• Middle distillates

• HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil)

• SAF (sustainable aviation fuel)

• Industrial products

• Electricity

1. 1ISAB · Italy’s largest refinery, in Sicilyisab.com
2. 2Refining history in Sicily, from 1954 to today · ISABisab.com
3. 3isab srlwikidata.org