LNG

Saipem, the Italian subsea company with contracts for LNG project, pipeline natural and oil worldwide reported a 19 percent jump in revenues as new contracts also built the backlog to more than $32Bln.

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.

Moody’s Investors Service, the US credit rating agency, said that record high natural gas storage of almost 98 percent as of end November helped by LNG deliveries positions the European Union well to meet the needs of this winter season with very limited risks of energy shortages.

Nov 27 (LNGJ) - SNAM, the Italian natural gas grid operator and floating and onshore import terminal owner, has launched a consultation regarding the first assignment procedures for the regasification capacity at the proposed floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to be deployed at the port of Ravenna. The FSRU “BW Singapore” will be on station at the Adriatic port of Ravenna and be operational by the end of 2024.

   “The first assignment procedures for the regasification capacity at the FSRU Ravenna Terminal have been published,’ said SNAM. “Interested parties can submit their observations on the procedure for the first assignment by 17 December 2023. As part of the consultation, interested parties may also submit expressions of interest for capacity products with a duration shorter than the assignment period by 30 November 2023,” added SNAM.

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.

May 31 (LNGJ) - OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, the company that owns the floating LNG import terminal off the port of Livorno, has received authorization to increase its annual regasification capacity from the current 3.75 billion cubic metres to about 5 Bcm per year.

   “Thanks to the decree issued on May 26 OLT will be able to receive up to 122 small-scale LNG carriers per year to carry out the small-scale LNG supply service,” said the company. Giovanni Giorgi, Chief Executive of OLT Offshore, said a new chapter was beginning almost 10 almost after the start of operations at the terminal “Thanks to the increase in the authorized regasification capacity and in the number of berths for small-scale LNG carriers, and as part of the new small-scale LNG service, the ‘FSRU Toscana’ will be able to increase its contribution to diversification and security of supply,” added Giorgi.

Stolt-Nielsen Limited, the Oslo-listed and London-based owner of a small tanker fleet including for LNG through its stake in Avenir LNG, reported fiscal first quarter net profits of $99.8 million as it also sold a stake in LNG shipping firm CoolCo.

Stolt-Nielsen’s profits were well up on the $52.3M posted in the same three months last year.

Quarterly revenues were $708.7M compared with $606.2M in the prior-year quarter for a business that also spans energy storage, terminals, tank containers and fish farms as well as natural gas.

The Stolt-Nielsen Gas unit reported a wider operating loss of $3.4M compared with a loss of $2.9M.

CoolCo shares sold

During the quarter ending on February 28, 2023, the group said it disposed of 923,565 shares in shipping company CoolCo for $11.7M, resulting in a gain on the sale of $2.5M which has been transferred from the fair value reserve to retained earnings.

CoolCo is listed on the Euronext Growth Oslo exchange. Stolt-Nielsen also owns a stake in Golar LNG Limited.

Stolt-Nielsen is additionally a founder of Avenir LNG in 2018 and still holds its stake in Avenir, the owner of a small-scale import terminal on the Italian island of Sardinia and in a small-scale LNG carrier fleet.

The two other shareholders in Avenir are Norwegian shipping companies Golar and Höegh LNG.

In its earnings statement, Stolt-Nielsen said that the Stolt Tankers unit reported operating profit of $87.1M, up from $78.2M, largely driven by higher contract rates and improved spot volumes.

The Stolthaven Terminals business reported operating profit of $25.1M to the end of February 2023 versus the previous quarter’s $20.8M as operating revenue at the terminals in the US and Brazil improved.

Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen, Chief Executive of Stolt-Nielsen, said the quarter continued where 2022 ended with a solid performance from all businesses during what was typically the seasonally weakest quarter of the year.

“Stolt Tankers improved on the prior quarter results as we began to see the impact of contract renewals on our earnings. Results at Stolthaven Terminals improved on the back of continued high utilisation, although throughput volume was down slightly,” the CEO explained.

“At Stolt Tank Containers a decrease in container liner freight rates impacted the rates we charge our customers, and with the easing of logistics bottlenecks customers are returning tanks more quickly, reducing demurrage revenue,” he added.

Italy’s Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (SNAM), or National Pipeline Company, said its natural gas storage subsidiary had ended the year with nearly 40 percent more gas in storage than at the same time last year as usage was lower and power companies used alternatives to gas in the energy mix.

SNAM, the Italian natural gas grid and LNG terminals operator, said the most recent projections for the evolution of gas demand in Italy this year point to a decline by year-end compared with 2021 because of higher prices, milder weather and more LNG cargoes brought in to help boost storage.

Natural gas demand in Italy fell by 3.2 percent in the first nine months of 2022 to 51.66 billion cubic metres from 53.40 Bcm in the same period of 2021.

SNAM said natural gas moving through the storage system in Italy in the first nine months rose by 8.3 percent to 15.71 Bcm versus last year’s 14.51 Bcm.

“In the first nine months of 2022, the LNG terminal of Panigaglia (La Spezia, near Genoa) regasified 1.47 Bcm of LNG and increase volumes by 34.9 percent as 38 LNG carriers were unloaded compared with 25 carriers unloaded in the same period of 2021,” said SNAM.  

“The warmer weather, the effects of the increase in energy prices in the industrial sector as well as the measures envisaged in the ‘National Natural Gas Consumption Containment’ plan have cut demand and improved supplies,” said SNAM.

“Despite the reduction in imported Russian gas flows to Italy experienced in particular in the third quarter of 2022, the overall performance is not expected to be impacted significantly this year,” added the company.

“The current European gas market is affected by uncertainty on the supply side. This has engendered substantial volatility at the European hubs in past months with sharp price differentials in markets with greater regasification capacity,” explained SNAM.

Price forecasts

“Although prices are currently subsiding after the records posted in August because of the high level of gas in storage facilities and the European demand containment plan, forward prices for the coming winter months remain strong and above €100 per megawatt hour pending the arrival of colder weather,” it stated.

The numbers came in SNAM’s nine-month earnings report in which revenues rose by 10.3 percent to €2.40 billion ($2.41Bln) compared with €2.17Bln the same period of 2021.

The company's nine-month net profits declined by 0.6 percent to €932 million from €938M in the prior-year period.

SNAM, whose name comes from Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (National Pipeline Company), operates the onshore Panigaglia LNG facility as well as having a controlling stake in the LNG facility, the “FSRU Toscana”, the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) moored off the Italian coast between the cities of Livorno and Pisa.

SNAM has also agreed to purchase two stakes held by Italian oil and gas company Eni in natural gas pipelines from Algeria, though the deals have not yet gone through.

“With regard to the agreement announced on November 27th, 2021 concerning the sale to SNAM of 49.9 percent of the investments held by Eni in the companies that manage the two groups of international gas pipelines connecting Algeria to Italy, the closing of the transaction has been postponed to the end of the year, pending the completion of the authorisation process,” SNAM explained.

FSRU deployments

SNAM is additionally bringing two more FSRU into the Mediterranean to increase the quantities of LNG available to Italy, including the “BW Singapore” being purchased from BW Group of Singapore.

SNAM agreed a similar deal at the start of June 2022 with shipping group Golar LNG, acquiring the FSRU “Golar Tundra” for $350 million to help boost imports.

“With receipt of authorisation to begin operation of our regasification vessels, we take the first step in the remodelling of our national energy security, which will soon have to be accompanied by the expansion of transport and storage infrastructure and an acceleration of initiatives for the transition, in which SNAM expects to play a leading role,” declared SNAM Chief Executive Stefano Venier in the earnings report.

“Performance in the first nine months of 2022 confirms the soundness of the Group’s action even in an environment clouded by uncertainty,” he added.

“The strong performance of our entire Italian business despite the reduction in regulated rates in the gas segment, the contribution of our foreign associates and the new businesses connected with the energy transition have contributed to the stability of our profits,” stated the CEO.

Oct 28 (LNGJ) - Italian energy major Eni posted an almost five-fold increase in third-quarter net profits to €5.86 ($5.87M) compared with €1.20Bln in the same three months of 2021. “We plan to replace at least 50 percent of Russian gas flows this winter, leveraging on our broad and diversified reserve base, our long-standing relationships with producing countries and our growing presence in LNG,” said Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi.

   “In the quarter we further enhanced our position in the gas supply chain via our exploration activities, the upstream acquisition of BP assets in Algeria and, on the midstream side, the purchase of the ‘Tango FLNG’ liquefaction vessel as part of the Congo gas valorization project,” added the CEO.