LNG

Adriatic LNG, the ExxonMobil-owned company that operates the largest liquefied natural gas regasification terminal in Italy, has launched the accreditation phase for the 2023 open season aimed at operators interested in acquiring capacity.

The Italian Port of Piombino in northwest Italy, located opposite the island of Elba, has been chosen as the preferred site amid local opposition for one of two floating storage and regasification units purchased by Italy’s grid operator SNAM to improve energy security.

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. 

Adriatic LNG, the company operating the biggest LNG regasification terminal in Italy offshore the northeast coast, has launched the accreditation phase for its Open Season 2022 for European and international operators.

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. 

Adriatic LNG, the operator of the largest LNG regasification terminal in Italy located offshore the eastern Veneto coastline, has formally launched its open season to allocate capacity for up to 25 years.

Adriatic LNG said the open season would culminate in a series of non-binding and binding auctions between interested operators scheduled from November 26th to the end of 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.

It has so far handled about 800 cargoes at its gravity-based structure facilities. The terminal includes two LNG storage tanks, each with a capacity of 125,000 cubic metres.

“As a result of suggestions brought to our attention by market operators, especially during the public consultation, Adriatic LNG offers 16 products, consisting in aggregated LNG discharge slots that can be combined together,” explained the company.

Shareholders

Adriatic LNG is co-controlled by ExxonMobil Italiana Gas and Qatar Terminal Ltd, a subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum, while Italian gas network operator SNAM has a 7.3 percent shareholding.

“Products available for the first auction session, closing on December 2, 2021, are published on the Open Season Catalogue of Products for Session 1,” said the company.

“Volumes offered vary between 1 billion cubic metres per year and to 1.6 Bcm per year of regasified natural gas, with duration varying between 10 and 24 years 9 months,” added Adriatic.

Total regasification capacity offered through the open season accounts for 153 Bcm.

The company stated that in order to increase the offer flexibility, Adriatic will give 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 may organize an additional second session by December 16, 2021 in case the capacity would not be entirely allocated during the first one. In this second session, available capacity would not be offered as products but as single discharge slots,” stated the company.

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. 

Adriatic LNG, the company that owns and operates the largest LNG regasification terminal in Italy located 17 kilometres off the Veneto coastline, is launching its open season in September to allocate regasification capacity for up to 25 years.

Adriatic LNG, the offshore import terminal owned by Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil, has launched a consultation for the auctioning of a potential 153 billion cubic metres of regasification capacity over the next 25 years.

Interested parties have 45 days to submit observations on products and allocation rules.

Adriatic LNG has been operating since it was deployed in 2009 on a gravity-based structure off the coast of the Veneto region.

The operating company said the subjects of the two-fold consultations are, on the one hand, the products to be allocated and, on the other hand, the amendments to the Regasification Code needed to carry out the open season.

“With the public consultation we take a further step to create one of the most important events for the entire energy market of the Mediterranean area,” said Sebastien Bumbolo, Adriatic LNG Law & Market manager.

“The latest developments in the regulatory framework implemented in Italy have new rules on the allocation of LNG regasification capacity which have already been successful in other European Countries,” added Sebastien Bumbolo.

“Adriatic LNG is able to offer to the market large volumes through long-term allocations,” he stated.

The joint venture operating company is controlled by ExxonMobil Italiana Gas and Qatar Terminal Ltd and a third shareholder is the Italian natural gas grid operator, SNAM, with a 7.3 percent stake.

Adriatic LNG has contributed to satisfying Italy’s gas security by already delivering 69 Bcm of regasified LNG into the national pipeline network.

Cargoes of LNG have been received at the Adriatic facility from eight nations, Angola, Qatar, Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, Equatorial Guinea, Norway, Nigeria and the US.

The company said all gas and LNG market players, both at national and international levels, have access to the Adriatic LNG proposals and can send their observations by March 22nd, 2021.

Further details are on its Web site at www.adriaticlng.it/en