Eni's Gas Discoveries Power Its Push to Capture Rising LNG Demand

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Eni's Gas Discoveries Power Its Push to Capture Rising LNG Demand

Eni S.p.A. E operates across exploration, production, gas, liquified natural gas (LNG), power, refining and chemicals segments. The company is expanding its presence in renewables, bio-refining through Enilive, and power sales via Plenitude. With operations in 62 countries, Eni is leveraging its strong exploration and production capabilities to reshape its portfolio toward gas and LNG, aligning with the growing demand for lower-carbon fuels worldwide.

To capitalize on this opportunity, Eni is accelerating key LNG initiatives, such as launching the Coral Norte floating LNG vessel in Mozambique and advancing with two large deepwater gas projects offshore East Kalimantan. In Southeast Asia, the integrated energy major has strengthened its growth outlook with a significant gas discovery at the Geliga-1 well in Indonesia. The discovery is estimated to contain around 5 trillion cubic feet of gas and 300 million barrels of condensate. This follows several successful wells drilled in the Kutei Basin, highlighting the region’s strong resource potential. These discoveries support Eni’s strategy of developing scalable gas production centers to efficiently meet both regional and global LNG demand.

Through its joint venture (JV) with Petronas, the company is building infrastructure to supply both domestic markets and international LNG buyers. The Geliga discovery further reinforces Indonesia’s role as a key LNG supply hub. Overall, Eni’s expanding resource base and project pipeline position it well to benefit from sustained growth in global LNG demand.

How is Growing LNG Demand Benefiting EQT & AR?

Growing LNG demand is set to boost the cash flows of energy companies like EQT Corporation EQT and Antero Resources Corporation AR as they are involved in the production of natural gas.

With a prominent position in the Marcellus Shale, EQT is well-positioned to capitalize on growing natural gas demand, driven by rising LNG exports and data center expansion. EQT is reinforcing its growth strategy by targeting high-return, infrastructure-focused growth projects, with planned investments of $580–$640 million in 2026 to boost production capacity. Backed by more than 30 years of low-risk drilling inventory, EQT is well aligned to capitalize on long-term global demand trends.

Antero Resources, headquartered in Denver, is an independent energy producer focused on natural gas and natural gas liquids in the Appalachian Basin. It leverages horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to efficiently develop its asset base, mainly located in West Virginia and Ohio. Robust natural gas demand driven by higher liquified natural gas exports and power consumption is expected to benefit AR as it stands as a major U.S. natural gas producer.

E’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

E shares have gained 86.7% over the past year compared with 44.8% growth of the industry.

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From a valuation standpoint, E trades at a trailing 12-month enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) of 6.41X. This is below the broader industry average of 6.65X.

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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for E's first-quarter 2026 earnings has seen downward revisions over the past seven days. Meanwhile, the estimate for full-year 2026 earnings has seen upward revisions. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter 2026 earnings has remained unchanged during the same period.

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E currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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Eni SpA (E): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
EQT Corporation (EQT): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Antero Resources Corporation (AR): Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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