Enrico Mattei

Enrico Mattei
Chairman of Eni
In office 10 February 1953 – 27 October 1962
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Marcello Boldrini
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 8 May 1948 – 24 June 1953
Constituency	Milan
Personal details
Born	29 April 1906 Acqualagna, Italy
Died	27 October 1962(1962-10-27) (aged 56) Bascapè, Italy
Cause of death	Aircrash, Bomb
Political party	Christian Democracy
Occupation	Public administrator
Known for	Development of oil industry in Italy

Enrico Mattei (Italian pronunciation: [enˈriːko matˈtɛi]; 29 April 1906 – 27 October 1962) was an Italian public administrator. After World War II, he was given the task of dismantling the Italian petroleum agency Agip, a state enterprise established by Fascist Italy. Instead, Mattei enlarged and reorganized it into the National Fuel Trust (Italian: Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi, ENI). Under his direction, ENI negotiated important oil concessions in the Middle East as well as a significant trade agreement with the Soviet Union, which helped break the oligopoly of the "Seven Sisters" that dominated the mid-20th-century oil industry. He also introduced the principle whereby the country that owned exploited oil reserves received 75% of the profits.^[1]

Mattei, who became a powerful figure in Italy, was a member of Christian Democracy and of the Italian Parliament from 1948 to 1953. Mattei made ENI a powerful company, so much so that Italians called it "the state within the state".^[2] He died in a plane crash in 1962, likely caused by a bomb in the plane, although it has never been established which group might have been responsible for his death.^[3] The unsolved death of Mattei was the subject of an award-winning film The Mattei Affair by Francesco Rosi in 1972, with Mattei portrayed by Gian Maria Volonté. Along with Vittorio Valletta of Fiat S.p.A., he is regarded among the best Italian managers of the 20th century.^[4]