LNG

SNAM, the Italian gas grid operator and liquefied natural gas import terminals owner, reported an almost 70 percent surge in net profits as it advanced with its latest floating LNG venture at Ravenna on Italy’s East Coast.

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 for a longer period than initially expected.

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.

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.

Former SNAM SpA Chief Executive Marco Alvera, who has left the Italian gas grid operator with control of two Italian LNG import terminals to pursue his own venture, has been granted a pay-off of more than €5 million ($5.23M) plus other benefits.

Italian LNG terminal and gas grid operator Snam has acquired a stake in the Egypt-Israel natural gas pipeline from Arish to Ashkelon and the transaction marks the entrance of Snam into the Eastern Mediterranean market where gas demand growth is forecast.

Stolt-Nielsen, the London-headquartered Norwegian company with terminal, shipping and Avenir LNG project interests, reported stable first-quarter earnings amid US disruptions and said the LNG import terminal on the Italian island of Sardinia would come on line in May.

Venice LNG, a company owned by Italian industrial groups Decal SpA, said it had obtained an authorization decree for the construction and operation of a small-scale LNG storage terminal in the industrial area of ​​Porto Marghera.

The permit has come from the Italian Ministry of Economic Development in agreement with the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport.

The main infrastructure will consist of a 32,000 cubic metres capacity small-scale LNG import terminal able to receive feeder ships of up to 30,000 cubic metres capacity.

Facilities will be located in an area owned by Decal, alongside the existing oil storage site along the South Industrial Canal and on restored land formerly used for a coal plant.

Venice LNG's construction phase is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2021, while operations are scheduled for start-up by around mid-2024.

“This step forward in the fuel infrastructure for road and marine transport is made possible thanks to a private investment of over €100 million ($120M) by Decal Spa Group through its subsidiary Venice LNG,” said the company.

“The project is promoted and supported by the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority and co-financed by the European Commission under the Connecting Europe Facility initiative for a total of €18.5M ($22.3M),” it added.

LNG will arrive at the Venice storage terminal by small and medium-sized LNG carriers and will be distributed on tank trucks, ISO-tanks and barges.

“Thanks to LNG, pollutants in the atmosphere and in the waters of the Venice lagoon will be drastically reduced,” stated the company.

The authorization incorporates the requirements by all the authorities involved in the procedure, including the Veneto Region, and which must be fulfilled by Venice LNG before and during the construction and operation of the coastal storage facility.

Among the requirements, there will be mitigation of dust and noise emissions during the construction phase, along with an Environmental Monitoring Plan and the implementation of procedures to limit waste production.

“We are pleased to have reached the authorization decree, since it confirms the value of our project ,” said Gian Luigi Triboldi, President and Chief Executive of Venice LNG.

“Our project went through a long technical-administrative path, involving many authorities and the local community too. Now, we are ready to give our contribution to promote the use of LNG, which plays a key role in the energy transition process,” explained the CEO.

In addition to the storage tank, the Venice project also includes a jetty and a system to allow the loading of barges and the installation of a boil-off gas management system.

About three-quarters of the volumes will be aimed at the road transport market and the balance will be sold to the ship bunkering sector.

The largest LNG facility in the region is Adriatic LNG, which imports cargoes from Qatar to be fed into the Italian natural gas transmission system.

The EU is promoting small-scale LNG distribution and more use of the fuel in trucking as part of its clean energy policy.

With the implementation of the International Maritime Organization’s 0.5 percent global sulphur cap in 2020, LNG is being put forward as the most economic and viable alternative fuel for ship owners. 

Oct 22 (LNGJ) - Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (Snam), the Italian natural gas grid operator with two of Italy's LNG import terminals in its portfolio, has signed an accord on switching Italian rail network trains from diesel to hydrogen, a fuel rival to LNG. The Snam memorandum of understanding was signed with Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane SpA, a state-owned holding company that manages infrastructure and services on the Italian rail network.

   Snam and FS Italiane plan to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of hydrogen rail transport in Italy. “With this agreement, we are taking an important step in promoting a hydrogen value chain in Italy starting from sectors that are crucial for decarbonisation such as the transport of people and goods,” said Snam's Chief Executive Marco Alverà. “Thanks to the collaboration between FS Italiane and Snam, we aim to create infrastructure to rapidly convert trains currently powered by diesel in Italy to hydrogen, thus gaining a technological leadership to be capitalized on also at an international level,” added the Snam CEO.

Italian energy company Eni, a prominent LNG sector participant, took a hit of more than US$3 billion in the first quarter as it wrote down asset values and took one-time charges to cope with the double calamity of the pandemic and the oil price plunge.