Enrico Mattei

Italian businessman. First president of the state-owned holding company "Eni" (Eni = ENI). Born in a remote village in northern Italy, he established a chemical company at the age of 30 after self-improvement, and played an active role as a resistance fighter during World War II. These experiences gave him a strong sense of national pride, and after the war, when a large gas field was discovered in the Po River basin, he insisted that not only private capital but also international oil capital be excluded from the business entity, and in 1953, he founded Eni, a public corporation consisting of three layers of a state-run holding company, a holding subsidiary, and an operating company, centered on AGIP, a national policy company that had been ordered to be liquidated, and became its first president. After that, he established the foundation of Eni while continuing his activities that were openly hostile to international oil capital, such as acquiring oil mining rights in Iran and importing oil from the Soviet Union at the time, aiming for independence in the energy industry, but died mysteriously in October 1962 when his private plane crashed.

[Kesaji Kobayashi]

"Mattie: Challenger to International Oil Capital" by Voteau, translated by Hisaaki Izawa (1969, Kawade Shobo Shinsha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

イタリアの実業家。国営持株会社「炭化水素公社」（エニ＝ENI）初代総裁。イタリア北部の寒村に生まれ、自力向上のすえ30歳で化学会社を設立、第二次世界大戦中はレジスタンスの闘士として活躍した。こうした経験から民族意識が強く、戦後、ポー川流域の大ガス田発見を契機とする事業主体のあり方をめぐっては、民間資本だけでなく国際石油資本をも排除した公共事業とすることを主張し、1953年、かつて清算を命じられていた国策会社、AGIPを中心に、国家による持株会社、持株子会社、事業会社という三層よりなる公共企業体、エニを創設し、初代総裁に納まった。その後エネルギー産業の自立を目ざし、イラン石油採掘権の取得や当時のソ連石油の輸入など国際石油資本に公然と敵対する活動を続けながらエニの基礎を確立したが、62年10月、自家用機の墜落により謎(なぞ)の死を遂げた。

［小林袈裟治］

『ヴォトー著、伊沢久昭訳『国際石油資本への挑戦者　マッティ』（1969・河出書房新社）』

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