* Eni to make binding goal of carbon neutrality
* CEO says to detail plans by end of the year
* Other oil majors have no binding targets yet -CEO(Recasts, adds detail, comment)
By Andrea Mandala
MILAN, July 2 (Reuters) - Italian oil major Eniwill make a binding commitment to becoming carbon neutral, itschief executive Claudio Descalzi said on Monday.
Descalzi said Eni's "epochal" announcement on how it plannedto reach its goal would be made by the end of the year, addingthat no oil company as yet had laid out binding plans for a netzero carbon footprint.
BP has said it will maintain total CO2 emissions in2025 at 2015 levels and that it will reduce them by 3.5 milliontonnes, thereby offsetting higher production, while Shellhas "ambitions" to halve its emissions by 2050.
Eni was assessing the costs and expected to release targetsin terms of timing and volumes before the end of the year,Descalzi said on the sidelines of a conference.
"A new and strategic cycle has begun for Eni; from being anoil company it has become an energy company and is now bettingon the circular economy to become carbon neutral," he said.
Descalzi said the targets would include not only atmosphericemissions but the soil too.
"The aim is to optimise the production of waste," he said,without giving further details.
Some global investors have started to raise ethical issuesabout the kind of companies they invest into.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the biggest in the world,wants the companies it holds stakes in to submit data on issuessuch as water use and climate effects to London-based non-profitgroup CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project.
On Monday Eni increased its Norwegian presence with a viewto extracting more offshore oil by merging its subsidiary therewith privately-owned Point Resources.
The move is part of Eni's aim of cutting its exposure togeographical risk. Eni is the biggest foreign oil and gasproducer in Africa.
Asked about media speculation the group was set to announcea new bumper discovery in Egypt following its recent Zohr find,Descalzi said there were prospects and new geological structuresin Egypt "but we still haven't discovered anything".(Reporting by Andrea Mandala, additional reporting by RonBousso, writing by Stephen Jewkes, editing by Alexander Smith)