LNG

Italian gas grid and LNG terminals operator Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (SNAM), is making progress in acquiring more natural storage in Italy to underpin the build-out of floating LNG import terminals.

Italian gas grid and LNG terminals operator Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (SNAM) has given a detailed update on the plans to deploy a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at the port of Ravenna in the North of the Adriatic coast.

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.

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.

Italian natural gas grid and LNG terminals operator SNAM reported an increase in annual revenues as LNG imports rose along with storage levels to cope with the European gas crisis.

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 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.

Leading oil and gas and LNG executives as well as heads of European Union utilities had interesting observations to make on the first day of the four-day Gastech Conference and Exhibition held in the northern Italian city of Milan.

Italy's gas grid and LNG terminal group SNAM has signed an accord with Italian utility company Edison, a subsidiary of French power operator Électricité de France, to develop small-scale LNG projects focused on the Mediterranean.

Italian LNG terminal and gas grid operator SNAM has agreed to buy a second floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) from BW LNG of Singapore after purchasing a first FSRU from Norwegian fleet owner Golar LNG.