LNG

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, has been chosen as the preferred site amid local opposition for one of two floating storage and regasification units purchased by Italy’s grid operator SNAM to improve energy security.

Italian oil and gas company and LNG project developer Eni said on July 11 that the Russian pipeline gas company Gazprom was further reducing its supplies.

Sonatrach, the Algerian national energy company and LNG producer, said it signed an agreement worth US$490 million with Chinese major Sinopec in the form of a production sharing contract for the Zarzaitine block in the Illizi basin of eastern Algeria.

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.

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. 

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 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.

European liquefied natural gas terminal stakeholders and network operators in Spain, Italy and Belgium have won majority control of the Greek gas grid operator sold in a tender by the government privatization agency.

April 3 (LNGJ) - OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, the Italian floating import company with a facility offshore the Mediterranean port of Livorno, said that starting from April 10 the regasification capacity of OLT will be awarded via auctions on the Platform for the Allocation of Regasification Capacity operated by the Italian power exchange management company Gestore Mercati Energetici (GME). OLT and GME have signed an accord on allocations. “This agreement regulates the relations between GME and OLT,” said OLT. “The platform will be in operation from April. OLT will launch the first monthly auction on April 10 in order to offer the regasification capacity available from May to the end of September,” it explained. OLT offshore operates the “FSRU Toscana”, moored 22 kilometres off the coast between the cities of Livorno and Pisa and connected to the Italian national gas transmission grid.