LNG

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. 

The Italian Ministry of Economic Development has given the floating LNG terminal, the “FSRU Toscana”, permission to offer small-scale LNG services from imported volumes.

The Ministry, in agreement with the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport and the Tuscany Region, issued the decree authorizing the FSRU company, OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, to start up break bulk operations by loading small-scale LNG vessels.

Offshore is controlled by Italian natural gas grid operator Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (Snam) and First Sentier Investors, who import volumes via the FSRU deployed off the Italian cities of Livorno and Pisa.

“This new activity adds an important piece to energy logistics, allowing us to complete the supply chain that permits the use of LNG as a sustainable fuel and capable of reducing polluting and climate-changing emissions in land and sea transport, as well as for industrial and civil uses in areas not served by the national transport network,” explained the company.

The OLT Offshore small-scale project will also allow the country to be competitive in one of the markets with the highest potential growth rate, as already demonstrated by the experiences of northern European countries.

“Spain, France, Belgium, Holland and Scandinavia have already had small-scale LNG services provided by their regasification terminals for years, allowing the loading of both tankers that supply service stations for LNG trucks and small LNG carriers that can directly serve other ships with dual-fuel or exclusively LNG engines,” added OLT Offshore.

The growth of LNG as a fuel also included the maritime market because of stricter regulations to reduce carbon-dioxide and other emissions brought in by the International Maritime Organization.

OLT Offshore noted that LNG use was already growing in the sector for roll-on-roll-off ferries, support vehicles for port activities and cruise ships as the Mediterranean was a closed sea and therefore particularly sensitive to environmental pollution.

The number of bunkering vessels for LNG is rising as well from six ships in 2019 to 21 vessels operating in Europe by the end of 2021.

The managing directors of OLT Offshore, Giovanni Giorgi and Maurizio Zangrandi, expressed satisfaction with the upcoming start of the break-bulk service.

“In recent years we have worked to maximize the use of the Terminal,” they said.

“The ‘FSRU Toscana’ has been working at 100 percent of its capacity for two years now, receiving LNG from almost all continents. The signing of the decree marks for us the beginning of a new challenge that we are ready to take up with enthusiasm, even in a difficult time like this,” stated the executives.

“The detailed design was developed in parallel with the authorization process and the necessary works can start by the end of 2020,” they added.

OLT Offshore said that according to its schedule the FSRU should be ready to start loading LNG onto small-scale carriers within 12 months.

The new Tuscany break-bulk service will be presented to potential users on October 29 at a gathering organized by grid operator Snam and aimed at gas market players.