The Italian Ministry of Economic Development has given the floating LNG terminal, the “FSRU Toscana”, permission to offer small-scale LNG services from imported volumes.
The Ministry, in agreement with the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport and the Tuscany Region, issued the decree authorizing the FSRU company, OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, to start up break bulk operations by loading small-scale LNG vessels.
Offshore is controlled by Italian natural gas grid operator Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (Snam) and First Sentier Investors, who import volumes via the FSRU deployed off the Italian cities of Livorno and Pisa.
“This new activity adds an important piece to energy logistics, allowing us to complete the supply chain that permits the use of LNG as a sustainable fuel and capable of reducing polluting and climate-changing emissions in land and sea transport, as well as for industrial and civil uses in areas not served by the national transport network,” explained the company.
The OLT Offshore small-scale project will also allow the country to be competitive in one of the markets with the highest potential growth rate, as already demonstrated by the experiences of northern European countries.
“Spain, France, Belgium, Holland and Scandinavia have already had small-scale LNG services provided by their regasification terminals for years, allowing the loading of both tankers that supply service stations for LNG trucks and small LNG carriers that can directly serve other ships with dual-fuel or exclusively LNG engines,” added OLT Offshore.
The growth of LNG as a fuel also included the maritime market because of stricter regulations to reduce carbon-dioxide and other emissions brought in by the International Maritime Organization.
OLT Offshore noted that LNG use was already growing in the sector for roll-on-roll-off ferries, support vehicles for port activities and cruise ships as the Mediterranean was a closed sea and therefore particularly sensitive to environmental pollution.
The number of bunkering vessels for LNG is rising as well from six ships in 2019 to 21 vessels operating in Europe by the end of 2021.
The managing directors of OLT Offshore, Giovanni Giorgi and Maurizio Zangrandi, expressed satisfaction with the upcoming start of the break-bulk service.
“In recent years we have worked to maximize the use of the Terminal,” they said.
“The ‘FSRU Toscana’ has been working at 100 percent of its capacity for two years now, receiving LNG from almost all continents. The signing of the decree marks for us the beginning of a new challenge that we are ready to take up with enthusiasm, even in a difficult time like this,” stated the executives.
“The detailed design was developed in parallel with the authorization process and the necessary works can start by the end of 2020,” they added.
OLT Offshore said that according to its schedule the FSRU should be ready to start loading LNG onto small-scale carriers within 12 months.
The new Tuscany break-bulk service will be presented to potential users on October 29 at a gathering organized by grid operator Snam and aimed at gas market players.
