LNG

Italian gas grid and LNG terminals operator Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (SNAM), is making progress in acquiring more natural storage in Italy to underpin the build-out of floating LNG import terminals.

SNAM, the Italian gas grid operator and liquefied natural gas import terminals owner, is progressing with the replacement and financing of natural gas pipelines to strengthen South-North infrastructure.

SNAM, the Italian gas grid operator and liquefied natural gas import terminals owner, outlined a 2024 financial outlook in its annual report just published with the next goal being the deployment of a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at the Italian Adriatic port of Ravenna.

Italian floating LNG terminal company, OLT Offshore LNG Toscana controlled by Italian natural gas grid and LNG terminals operator Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (SNAM), said the “FSRU Toscana” vessel would be undergoing long-term maintenance at a shipyard and would be offline for six months.

SNAM, the Italian gas gid operator and liquefied natural gas import terminals owner, said it was moving forward on plans for a fifth LNG regasification facility at the Adriatic port of Ravenna.

SNAM has already started the construction of the associated facilities for the new Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) to be deployed at Ravenna.

A meeting in Ravenna involving SNAM Chief Executive Stefano Venier, the utility’s Chief Operating Officer Massimo Derchi as well as the Mayor of Ravenna, Michele de Pascale, as part of a public conference outlined progress on bringing the FSRU “BW Singapore” to Ravenna.

The FSRU is the second purchased by SNAM to improve Italy’s energy security and will be operational by the end of 2024.

The ship will provide the country with an additional 5 billion cubic metres of gas, in addition to those already supplied by the FSRU “Golar Tundra” which has been operational on Italy’s West Coast port of Piombino in Tuscany since July 2023.

Municipal benefits

SNAM said that Ravenna would also benefit from hosting the FSRU and helping with Italy’s energy security by having backing for town and regional projects.

“These works will enable the Municipality to carry out significant interventions in various areas, from urban regeneration to sustainable mobility, from reforestation to energy saving with a total commitment of €10 million (€10.7M),” said SNAM.

“At the peak of activities, more than 1,200 people will be employed, involving over 100 suppliers from the province of Ravenna and the Emilia Romagna Region, with contracts assigned to local companies in the Ravenna area amounting to over €300 million ($320M),” the company added.

“During the Ravenna conference, SNAM also provided an update on progress of the works for the first carbon-capture and storage (CCS) project, which will make the Ravenna hub one of the world's largest sites for CO₂ storage and the largest in the Mediterranean,” the company added.

Built in 2015, the “BW Singapore” will be able to store 170,000 cubic metres of LNG, regasify it then have it transferred into a new pipeline connected to the connection point with the National Gas Pipeline Network located around 42 kilometres (26 miles) from the FSRU mooring point.

Bunkering

Ravenna is already the location of a small-scale LNG bunkering station established under the European Union's clean fuel policies.

Spanish LNG terminals and gas grid operator Enagás and Italian utility company Edison are among the shareholders in the small-scale facility serving the LNG trucking and ship bunkering sectors.

In addition to the Piombino FSRU terminal on the west Coast, SNAM already operates the onshore Panigaglia LNG facility on the northwest coast near Genoa and which has been in service since 1969.

The grid operator also has a controlling stake in the “FSRU Toscana” moored off the West Coast Italian port of Livorno.

The new FSRU facility at Ravenna will be in the same area as the Adriatic LNG terminal

Adriatic LNG terminal is majority-owned by US major ExxonMobil and with QatarEnergy also a shareholder.

The Adriatic terminal is a gravity-based structure located 15 km (9.3 miles) off the Veneto coastline and SNAM is a 7.3 percent shareholder in the facility.

Saipem, the Italian energy and LNG engineering company, was awarded a contract by Italian gas system operator SNAM for the construction of the associated facilities for the new Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) to be located in the Adriatic Sea offshore Ravenna as Italy’s fifth import terminal.

Italian energy major Eni has delivered the first commercial liquefied natural gas shipment to the nation’s fourth import terminal at the Tuscan port of Piombino.

SNAM Chief Executive Stefano Venier said the natural gas grid and terminals owner would begin commercial operations by the end of May at Italy’s newest and fourth LNG import terminal at the Port of Piombino in Tuscany.

The proposed floating LNG terminal at the Italian Port of Piombino in northwest Italy has filled 86 percent of the regasification and cargo slots even amid a pending legal decision on whether the facility can start up as planned.

The Italian Port of Piombino in northwest Italy, located opposite the island of Elba, is facing further delays to host one of two floating storage and regasification units purchased by Italy’s grid and LNG terminals operator SNAM.

An Italian administrative court has postponed to July 5 a decision over a case being pursued by local opponents of the Piombino FSRU.

SNAM has plans to deploy the 154,950 cubic metres capacity FSRU “Golar Tundra” at Piombina.

However, some members of Piombino's municipal administration filed a legal challenge in late 2022 against the government-backed project, part of Italy’s plan to support the European Union’s replacement of Russian pipeline gas with LNG deliveries from nations such as the US, Qatar, Algeria and Egypt.

The government-appointed commissioner for the FSRU project, Eugenio Giani, had previously issued a statement saying he hoped to have authorization from the local municipality by the end of October, 2022, though instead they raised a challenge.

Ideal FSRU site

Commissioner Giani has said that Piombina was an ideal site for an FSRU with its under-used jetty and nearby pipeline gas infrastructure connections.

He has noted that there was no other place in that region of Italy where there was a “substantially unused jetty of 300 metres in length” and pipeline links.

The Piombina FSRU and the second SNAM FSRU would be Italy’s fourth and fifth LNG import terminals after the onshore facility at Panigaglia near Genoa, another FSRU offshore the port of Livorno and the Adriatic LNG facility, an offshore gravity-based structure on the east coast.

The second SNAM FSRU is the 170,000 cubic metres capacity “BW Singapore”. The vessel was purchased by SNAM and is currently bound by a charter agreement with a third party until November 2023.

According to SNAM the “BW Singapore” could be deployed eventually in the upper Adriatic Sea, close to the Port of Ravenna where there is already a small-scale onshore LNG fuel terminal and other petroleum storage infrastructure.