LNG

OLT Offshore LNG Toscana SpA, the owner of the floating storage and regasification unit “FSRU Toscana”,  located offshore the West Coast of Italy, is auctioning a quantity of natural gas subject to various conditions.

The amount on offer is 101,400 megawatt hours under the conditions of a purchasing contract.

In addition, any bidders must have access to the Italian Virtual Exchange Point, the Punto di Scambio Virtuale (PSV), the national natural gas trading platform.

The Italian PSV is the sixth largest in Western Europe, after the Netherlands, the UK, Germany’s two trading points and the French platform, Trading Region France.

A second condition of the gas auction is that any buyer must have capacity access to the Italian natural gas transport system of Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (SNAM) Rete Gas SpA.

A final condition is that the documentation must be submitted from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon on 20 March 2020.

“Offers sent before or after this deadline will not be taken into consideration and will be automatically excluded,” said OLT Offshore.

SNAM agreed to acquire a controlling stake in the OLT Offshore LNG Toscana company in September 2019.

The vessel “FSRU Toscana” is moored 22 kilometres off the Italian coast between the cities of Livorno and Pisa.

It is connected to the Italian gas grid through a 36.5-kilometre pipeline from the shore.

SNAM acquired 49.07 percent of the share capital of OLT from Italian utility company, the Iren Group, and took joint control of the terminal with the global equity fund First State Investments.

The equity fund First State also bought German utility Uniper’s 48.24 percent stake in the facility in May 2019.

The only remaining original shareholders from the start-up of the LNG import project offshore Tuscany in 2013 is vessel owner Golar LNG with 2.69 percent.

Since operations began, the FSRU has handled LNG cargoes from 10 different countries, Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Qatar, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States.

The OLT Offshore facility  has traditionally provided national peak-shaving services to Italy with LNG cargoes.

SNAM said that is acquisition of OLT guaranteed industry expertise in the management of  a vital piece of infrastructure for the Italian energy system’s security and flexibility.

Italian natural gas network company Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (SNAM) has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in the OLT Offshore LNG Toscana company which operates  the floating regasification terminal off the West Coast of Italy.

OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, the Italian LNG import facility on the Mediterranean coast, said German utility Uniper has sold its stake in the terminal company to global equity fund First State Investments.

OLT Offshore said the German-owned stake from Uniper amounted to 48.24 percent and has been transferred to First State Investments, though the value of the transaction was not disclosed.

The remaining original shareholders are Italian utility, the Iren Group with 49.07 percent, and vessel owner Golar LNG with 2.69 percent.

The company operates the “FSRU Toscana”, moored 22 kilometres off the coast between the cities of Livorno and Pisa.

The floating storage and regasification unit is connected to the Italian national gas transmission grid through a 36.5km pipeline from the shore to the mainland.

OLT Offshore provides mainly peak-shaving services as part of the Italian government’s energy security and diversification plan.

The new investor First State said it was looking forward to working with its co-shareholders and employees to ensure OLT continues to provide a safe and reliable service.

Since operations began in 2013, the FSRU has handled cargoes from 10 different countries, Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Qatar, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States.

Re-loaded cargoes are also received from other European terminals such as Rotterdam and those in Spain.

At full capacity, OLT Offshore's terminal can regasify 3.75 billion cubic metres per annum of natural gas, the equivalent of 2.77 million tonnes a year of LNG, or around 4 percent of Italy's annual needs.

As part of the First Investment stake purchase Giovanni Giorgi, currently OLT’s Operations Manager, has been appointed Managing Director in succession to Uniper’s nominee Richard Fleischmann.

Giorgi will serve as joint MD with Alessandro Fino, who has held the role since December 2014.

OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, the Italian floating storage and regasification unit deployed offshore Tuscany, is working at almost 100 percent of its capacity less than a year after the implementation of new allocation mechanisms via auction.

OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, the floating terminal offshore the Italian Mediterranean port of Livorno in Tuscany, has chosen the winner of a liquefied natural gas cargo tender from six offers received.

OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, the Italian owner of the import facility deployed off the Mediterranean coast, will again provide peak-shaving services for the natural gas network and has launched an LNG cargo tender that closes on October 16.