LNG

The Italian Adriatic LNG import terminal has launched the accreditation phase for a 2024 open season to offer long-term regasification capacity to natural gas market operators.

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.

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.

Saipem, the Italian energy and LNG engineering company specialising in subsea and oil and gas development projects and pipelines, posted soaring third-quarter revenues of more than €3 billion ($3.2Bln) as global demand surged.

Saipem said revenues to the end of September 2023 amounted to €3.02Bln compared with €2.85Bln in the same three months of 2022.

Quarterly gross earnings increased to €230 million versus €168M in the prior-year quarter. Net profits in the quarter came in at €39M versus a loss of €8M in the same quarter last year.

The Milan-based company said new contracts added to the backlog in the first nine months of 2023 amounted to €11.92Bln, an increase from the €6.92Bln in the corresponding period of 2022.

The backlog as of September 30, 2023 amounted to a total of €27.57Bln. These contracts comprised €15.08Bln in asset-based services, €10.33Bln in Energy Carriers and €2.15Bln in Offshore Drilling of which €2.69Bln was being completed in 2023.

LNG awards

Saipem won contracts earlier in 2023 with three linked to increased LNG production in Angola, Trinidad and Papua New Guinea.

“Group performance further improved with another quarter of growth in terms of revenues, margins, net result and cash generation, confirming the trend already recorded in the first six months of the year,” said Saipem.

“The improvement is recorded in the Offshore, Engineering and Construction and Drilling divisions,” Saipem added.

Saipem is also showing continued traction in the Middle East. After the close of the quarter, on October 5, Saipem, in consortium with National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC), signed on behalf of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company a contract related to the Hail and Ghasha development project-package one in the United Arab Emirates.

Saipem said its share of the contract amounted to around $4.1Bln. The project is aimed at developing the resources of the Hail and Ghasha natural gas fields located offshore Abu Dhabi.

The project scope of work encompasses the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of four drilling centres and one processing plant to be built on artificial islands, as well as various offshore structures and more than 300 kilometres of subsea pipelines.

Adriatic FSRU

As part of the domestic Italian LNG build-out Saipem was awarded a contract by Italian gas system operator SNAM for the construction of the associated facilities for the new Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) to be located in the Adriatic Sea offshore Ravenna as Italy’s fifth import terminal.

The contract, awarded jointly via a temporary venture with two other Italian companies Rosetti Marino and Micoperi, comprises the EPC and installation of a new offshore facility and for the docking and mooring of the FSRU.

The latest Italian floating terminal will be connected to shore via a 26-inch offshore pipeline of 8.5km length, plus a 2.6 km onshore pipeline and a parallel fibre optic cable.

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.

Italian utility Edison and Enagás, the Spanish natural gas grid operator and LNG terminal network owner, have delivered the first cargo to their small-scale LNG import terminal joint venture at the port of Ravenna on the northeast coast of Italy.

Enagás, the Spanish natural gas grid operator and LNG terminal network owner, has signed an agreement with Italian utility Edison, to become a shareholder in a new small-scale onshore LNG terminal at the port of Ravenna on the northeast coast of Italy.