Editing Enrico Mattei (section)

{{Short description|20th-century Italian politician and businessman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name          = Enrico Mattei
|image         = Enrico Mattei 1950.jpg
|caption       = 
|office        = Chairman of [[Eni]]
|term_start    = 10 February 1953
|term_end      = 27 October 1962
|predecessor   = ''Office established''
|successor     = [[Marcello Boldrini]]
|office1       = Member of the [[Chamber of Deputies (Italy)|Chamber of Deputies]]
|term_start1   = 8 May 1948
|term_end1     = 24 June 1953
|constituency1 = [[Milan]]
|birth_date    = 29 April 1906
|birth_place   = [[Acqualagna]], Italy
|death_date    = {{death date and age|1962|10|27|1906|4|29|df=y}}
|death_place   = [[Bascapè]], Italy
|death_cause   = [[Aircrash]]
|other_names   =
|known_for     = Development of oil industry in Italy
|occupation    = Public administrator
|party         = [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy]]
}}

'''Enrico Mattei''' ({{IPA|it|enˈriːko matˈtɛi}}; 29 April 1906 &ndash; 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 (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]]. Instead, Mattei enlarged and reorganized it into the [[National Fuel Trust]] ({{langx|it|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 (oil companies)|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.<ref name=time021162>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110219052825/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874635,00.html#ixzz1DAuoOBYh "Italy: Powerful Man"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. 2 November 1962.</ref>
 
Mattei, who became a powerful figure in Italy, was a member of [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|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".<ref name=time210761>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110205001458/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,897847,00.html#ixzz1DAsDs8Ay "Oil: State Within a State"]. ''Time''. 21 July 1961.</ref> He died in a plane crash in 1962, likely caused by a bomb in the plane,{{fact|date=May 2025}} although it has never been established which group might have been responsible for his death.<ref name=ind290897>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/autopsy-may-solve-deadly-mystery-of-the-mattei-affair-1247785.html "Autopsy may solve deadly mystery of the Mattei Affair"]. ''[[The Independent]]''. 29 August 1997.</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pace|first=Lanfranco|date=16 November 2016|url=https://www.ilfoglio.it/articoli/2014/11/16/news/loperaio-di-successo-78456/|title=L'operaio di successo|work=Il Foglio|language=it|access-date=11 February 2023}}</ref>