LNG

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.

SNAM Chief Executive Stefano Venier said the natural gas grid and terminals owner would begin commercial operations by the end of May at Italy’s newest and fourth LNG import terminal at the Port of Piombino in Tuscany.

CMA CGM, the French container shipping line based in the Mediterranean port of Marseille and the third-largest in the world and with a growing fleet of LNG-powered vessels, has a new service to the LNG fuel location of Ennore port on the East Coast of India.

The containerships will expand port coverage with a direct call to Ennore, near Chennai in India, on the Westbound leg of the service connecting North Europe and the Mediterranean with Oceania as from June 2023.

“This new call will offer our customers a fast export connection from the main commercial area in South East India to Europe together with a direct import connection from Australia and Singapore,” said CMA CGM.

“Ennore is also a natural gateway from/to the Inland Container Depot of Bangalore covered with efficient rail connectivity,” added the French company.

The other LNG fuel ports in CMA CGM’s so-called NEMO service include Fos Sur Mer near Marseille, La Spezia in Italy, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Malta and Singapore.

French LNG storage tanks designer GTT is supplying the tanks for six more LNG-powered containerships ordered from South Korea by CMA CGM.

The six containerships are being constructed at the Korean shipyard of Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries.

The vessels, each capable of carrying 8,000 containers, will be equipped with an LNG fuel tank with a capacity of 6,000 cubic metres.

The deliveries of the vessels are scheduled from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the fourth quarter of 2025.

CMA CGM is a pioneer of LNG-powered containerships and has about 12 more of the vessels being built in China.

The shipping line has said it is aiming to have a fleet of 44 LNG-fuelled containerships by 2024.

The 12 China-built vessels will be delivered between the last quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2024.

The construction contracts for those CMA CGM newbuilds were awarded to Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding and Jiangnan Shipyard Co.

Each of the Chinese yards is building six vessels able to carry between 13,000 and 15,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of containers.

The first ever LNG-powered containership was delivered to CMA CGM from the Hudong-Zhonghua yard and entered commercial operation in September 2020.

The 23,000 TEU “CMA CGM Jacques Saadé” was named after the late Lebanon-born founder of the shipping line and father of current Chairman Rodolphe Saadé.

Jan 20 (LNGJ) - Italy’s Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (National Pipeline Company), also known as SNAM, plans to invest €10 billion ($10.8Bln) in natural gas pipelines and LNG facilities in its revised budget through to 2026. SNAM said €6.3Bln would go on pipelines, including upgrading the Adriatic Line. A further €1.4Bln would be spent on two LNG floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) and €1.3Bln would go on expanding and upgrading gas storage sites.

   “Within a backdrop of extreme uncertainty and volatility, Snam has succeeded in guaranteeing maximum support to cope with the emergency, creating the basis for the necessary actions to tackle the near future,” said Stefano Venier, Chief Executive. “We will significantly increase investments compared to the past to strengthen our infrastructure and contribute to the country's greater energy security for the next few years and beyond,” added Venier.

SNAM, the Italian LNG terminal and natural gas grid operator, and Milan-based energy major Eni have finalized the terms of an agreement for the acquisition by SNAM of a 49.9 percent stake in a newly incorporated Italian company controlling natural gas pipelines connecting Algeria to Italy.

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.

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.