History

“Knight of Industry” Ferdinando Peretti acquires api Anonima Petroli italiana, a company involved in the sales and distribution of fuel products in the Marche region of Italy. He develops a warehouse at Falconara Marittima in the Ancona province on the Adriatic Coast.

The storage facility is expanded in 1950 and transformed into a refinery plant, heralding the introduction of api Raffineria [Refinery].

The business continues to expand throughout the 1950s, a period in which it begins to develop a distribution network for fuels and combustibles.
The first global fuel crisis, which took place in 1956 and 1957, saw prices rise and crude stocks fall, but api navigates those years with success and at the end of it sees its capital stock valued at 2 billion lire and its crude oil processing capacity equivalent to one million tonnes.

In the flourishing years of the same decade, the company builds an artificial island 3758 metres off the coast at Falconara, creating a series of underwater pipes that enabled tankers to dock offshore.

These are the years of the so-called boom in Italy and during them, api’s sales rise by over 30%. By the mid-Sixties, the company is producing 1,928 million tonnes annually and has 900 service stations, including the first motorway site.

Aldo Brachetti Peretti (named as a “Knight of Industry” in 1978) becomes the new president and Managing Director, upon the death of Nando Peretti.

The distribution network comprises around 1700 outlets, 90% of which are owned by the company. As the network continues to grow with the opening of the first self-service sites, the refinery is equipped with a 16 km-long marine pipeline that can accommodate large tankers up to 400,000 tonnes in volume.

Over the ensuing years, the company continues to introduce improvements in the areas of safety, product quality, the environment and energy savings. The refinery launches a restructuring plan along with an initiative to optimise the production cycle.

In 1989, api Holding S.p.A. is created. Its sphere of interest is primarily in energy diversification, including the development of electric energy from renewable sources (wind, biomass and photovoltaic).

President Aldo Brachetti Peretti remains at the head of the company until the beginning of the new millennium, which opens with the launch of the central IGCC at Falconara for the production on electric energy.

Activities remained focused on the production of petrol and diesel, as well as the low sulphur bunker for sea transport.

The twenty-first century begins with a period of renewed growth for the group. In 2005, the acquisition of the IP brand and network from ENI is finalised.

The group diversifies activities with significant investments in the field of renewable energy, through the company api Nòva Energia [New Energy].

In 2007, Ugo Brachetti Peretti becomes Executive President of api Anomina Petroli Italiana and the group’s focus shifts to the mobility sector with the strengthening of its distribution network. He also revamps the role of the Falconara Marittima refinery and transforms what is a family company into the leading private all-Italian player in the fuel and mobility sector through the acquisition of TotalErg, joint venture between the Genoese company Erg and the French brand Total. With this acquisition, which takes place in 2018, IP becomes the largest private Italian retailer in the sector.

In a complex context such as the two-year period 2020-2021, marked by the pandemic, IP managed to launch a commercial revolution with its distributors on the local market: it replaced traditional fuels with OPTIMO, the premium fuel that reduces consumption and environmental impact, which is offered at the price of normal fuel, to allow everyone access to a higher quality product and more sustainable mobility.
In December 2022, IP signed a binding agreement to take over the oil assets of Esso Italiana. The agreement was finalized on 1 October 2023, making it possible to strengthen the Group's production volumes, doubling refining capacity thanks to the 100% control of the Trecate refinery and the logistics system connected to it. In addition, the acquisition includes Engycalor Energia Calore S.r.l., a company that operates throughout the country in the marketing and distribution of petroleum products to different types of customers, as well as the Bitumen depot in Naples and an equity investment in Disma, a company that manages the depositing of air fuel at Malpensa Airport. As part of the agreement, Esso Italiana also signed a long-term contract with italiana petroli S.p.A. for the use of the trademark, under which it is envisaged that Esso-branded stores will continue to offer the Esso marketing programs and be supplied with high-quality Esso products. Also in October 2023, IP and the Macquarie Capital EV Asset Holding fund announced the IPlanet joint venture for the electrical transition of service areas.

In April 2024, with the closing of the transaction, the joint venture was created, which aims to bring ultrafast electric recharging to over 500 service areas throughout Italy. IPlanet is based in Rome and already has a three-year investment plan supported by numerous Italian and international financial institutions.
The new company will consist of over 500 IP service areas throughout Italy, where traditional fuel distributors on the local market will be integrated with electric charging stations. The transformation of the entire portfolio will be completed by 2032.

Today, api Group has over 4,600 IP branded service areas (over 90 on highways), two refineries (Trecate Novara and Falconara Marittima), a dense network of depots and pipelines, and it supplies fuel to the main airports and several ports throughout the country. IP also supplies approximately 2,600 service stations under the Esso brand.