Enrico Mattei (April 29, 1906 – October 27, 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 the Fascist regime. Instead Mattei enlarged and reorganized it into the National Fuel Trust 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.
Mattei, who became a powerful figure in Italy, was a left-wing Christian Democrat, and a member of parliament from 1948 to 1953. Mattei made ENI a powerful company, so much so that Italians called it "the state within the state."He died in a mysterious plane crash in 1962, likely caused by a bomb in the plane. The unsolved death of Mattei has obsessed Italy for years and was the subject of an award-winning film The Mattei Affair by Francesco Rosi in 1972.
Enrico Mattei was born in Acqualagna, in the province of Pesaro and Urbino, Marche and in 1923 he became an apprentice in the tannery industry in Matelica.