Adriatic LNG, the operator of the largest LNG regasification terminal in Italy, said it had a positive conclusion to the 2021 open season and was preparing for next year’s process from May 2022.
The terminal, located 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) off the Veneto coastline, covered the allocation by tender of regasification capacity for a total amount of 2 billion standard cubic metres over a period of about three years.
“After a long and comprehensive public consultation process that began in early February 2021, the tender was conducted in a manner similar to those used by the aggressive competitors of LNG terminal operators in Europe with some notable improvements to benefit competition in the gas market,” said Adriatic LNG.
“Reliability, efficiency, and the fact that it is the only LNG regasification terminal in Italy capable of receiving almost all classes of LNG carriers, with a capacity ranging from 65,000 cubic metres up to 217,000 cubic metres capacity, make Adriatic LNG's service particularly attractive to national and international operators, improving competition in the Italian gas market,” it added.
Auctions
Adriatic LNG’s open season culminated in a series of non-binding and binding auctions between interested operators between November 26th and into December 2021.
The terminal has been on line since autumn 2009 and is a private operator which enables cargo imports amounting to about 10 percent of the national gas consumption of Italy.
Adriatic LNG is co-controlled by ExxonMobil Italiana Gas and Qatar Terminal Ltd, a subsidiary of QatarEnergy, while Italian gas network operator SNAM has a 7.3 percent shareholding.
It has so far handled more than 800 cargoes at its gravity-based structure facilities.
The terminal includes two LNG storage tanks, each with a capacity of 125,000 cubic metres.
“In this regard, it should be noted that the project to increase the regasification capacity of the Adriatic LNG terminal from 8 to 9 billion cubic metres a year has been approved by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the authorisation is now in the finalisation phase,” explained Adriatic LNG.
“The increase in regasification capacity at the Adriatic terminal will be achieved through the optimisation of the operating conditions of the infrastructure, without any structural changes to the current configuration,” added the company.
In the open season, Adriatic LNG said it offered flexibility and gave the opportunity to operators to submit, for certain types of products and within specific limits, personalized bids by requesting the reduction of duration and/or annual volumes.
Adriatic LNG noted that in a gas market in constant evolution and increasingly ready to offer price opportunities and delivery flexibility, the company invites interested operators to consult its website for the short-term regasification service offer and to participate in the open season 2022 that will start at the end of May 2022.
The eight supplying countries so far to the Adriatic facility have been Qatar, Angola, Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, Equatorial Guinea, Norway, Nigeria and the US.
