LNG in Sardinia

• 30 Sep 2018

It is unusual to participate into the inauguration of a service station and to feel satisfaction despite the lack of fuel to be sold. Sincere, however, the approval of those present in Villacidro, a few days ago, in the new plant of the ISA Group, the main Sardinian company engaged in "large-scale distribution" sector. Made by the local manufacturer Comit, the plant is already set up to sell liquid methane to trucks and compressed to cars. It should be remembered that the island is not methanised and the gas, necessarily liquid, can only arrive by ship.

The investment in Villacidro has been done, and there is no better guarantee that LNG, in one way or another, as soon as possible, will arrive.

Within a few months Villacidro will have LNG, also because for years it arrived in Arborea (Oristano).

Despite the commitment of the Region and in particular of the Department of Industry for the arrival of LNG, the works for the deposits still cannot gain momentum. The announcement of major alternative initiatives and delays in issuing the rules of the particular Sardinian market gave uncertainty even on the most promising projects.

Mistrust slows down the signing of sales contracts that banks want to see to finance the work. Concerns about "Italian risk" are also weighing, since they are mostly international operators (!), that pay close attention to the spread of public debt financing, before deciding in which country to continue investing.

The delay in making deposits makes Sardinia lose the great advantage of having a small but secure demand, made up of existing city networks, now powered by propane, in order to become the Mediterranean leader of the small scale LNG. The demand for networks justifies the rapid installation of the first coastal tanks, and then waits for the one from trucks, ships and industries, having already amortized some of the costs.

The driving domestic demand now becomes the one of road tractors - but service stations are needed - while large vessels (such as the one of Costa Smeralda is arriving in a year) will be supplied with LNG from the "tank ships" that will be supplied directly in France or Spain , skipping Sardinia.

However, optimism prevails, and pioneering companies are working to obtain LNG directly without waiting for deposits and offering it to the industries and service stations that will follow the example of the ISA Group. Innovative initiatives are also launched, such as the local production of bioGNL, produced with agricultural waste, livestock waste and organic waste.