The oldest Italian LNG import terminal, the onshore Panigaglia facility near the port of Genoa, is set to receive more cargoes for the 2022-2023 winter season as the nation fully mobilises its regasification assets to help the European Union emerge from the supply crisis.
Panigaglia was Italy’s first ever LNG terminal and has been operational since 1969.
The Italian gas grid operator SNAM, whose name comes from Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (National Pipeline Company), runs the Panigaglia terminal as well as having a 49 percent stake in the LNG facility, the “FSRU Toscana”, moored off the Italian coast off the port of Livorno.
Italy currently has three full-scale LNG import terminals, the third being the Adriatic terminal co-owned by units of ExxonMobil Corp, and QatarEnergy.
Adriatic LNG is located 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) off the Veneto coastline and is a gravity-based structure.
The first additional cargo for Panigaglia was delivered on October 9 from Angola in southwest Africa after having been reloaded onto smaller ships at Spanish terminals for them to be compatible with the onshore terminal in Italy’s Liguria region, the crescent shaped coastal area also known as the Italian Riviera.
Cargo deals
“Further LNG deliveries from Egypt and Algeria are also expected in October at onshore Panigaglia,” said a statement from the supplier, Italian oil and gas company Eni.
“The overall contribution of additional LNG volumes to Italy, thanks to the availability of regasification terminals currently under development (FSRUs), will exceed 2 billion cubic metres between 2022 and 2023,” explained Eni.
“It will progressively reach 7 Bcm between 2023 and 2024, and will exceed 9 Bcm between 2024-2025, in addition to further supplies to be delivered via pipeline,” stated Eni.
SNAM has additionally agreed to buy a second floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) from BW LNG of Singapore after purchasing the first FSRU from Norwegian fleet owner Golar LNG.
SNAM has signed an agreement to buy the “BW Singapore” which like the Golar vessel can act as a conventional carrier or an FSRU.
The “BW Singapore” was built in 2015 and has storage capacity of about 170,000 cubic metres and a nominal continuous regasification capacity of about 5 Bcm per annum.
The FSRU, which is currently bound by a charter agreement with a third party until November 2023, is expected to be based in the upper Adriatic Sea, close to Ravenna.
SNAM said the “BW Singapore” acquisition was financed from its own resources for an amount of around $400M.
SNAM agreed a similar deal at the start of June 2022 with Golar LNG, acquiring the FSRU “Golar Tundra” for $350M.
The 170,000 cubic metres capacity “Golar Tundra” may be deployed near a port on the Italian island of Sardinia.
The two FSRUs acquired by SNAM will contribute 13 percent of the national gas demand alone.
