LNG in Sardinia: Higas speeding, IVI keeps going, Edison in slight delay

• 25 Jul 2019

Works have started in the Higas construction site (80% Avenir LNG - Stolt Nielsen, 10% respectively Gas and Heat and Cpl Concordia) in the port of Santa Giusta (Oristano). The first reinforced concrete platforms were built and will welcome the incoming tanks. Gas and Heat, specialized in cryogenic tanks, has completed the first three (of six), now waiting to leave from Livorno to Sardinia; the remaining three are being built and will be delivered by autumn.

The deposit will consist of 6 tanks for a total capacity of 9 thousand cubic meters of LNG. At the recent International Conference by ConferenzaGNL held in Naples last 15/16 of May, Higas representatives announced the completion of the deposit by 3 August 2020 (or sooner). Meanwhile, the tanker that will have to replenish the deposit has been launched, now waiting for sea trials (read the news http://www.conferenzagnl.com/in-acqua-la-nave-cisterna-che-dara-metano-alla-sardegna-avenir/?lang=en).

The project for the construction of the coastal depot by Ivi Petrolifera goes on, in collaboration with Dolomiti GNL. The company is handling the Environmental Impact Assessment; the deposit will have a capacity of 9,000 m3 and a direct access to the sea. The Edison project (10,000 m3 capable) will face a few months delay. The company is still waiting to define the acquisition of the lot where the structure will rise and expects to be able to evaluate the decisions of ARERA (competent regulatory authority in methane tariff that will be distributed in the city networks) on the equalization of the final price. Edison requested to extend the project to the Ministry of Economic Development by six months, the authority that granted the construction authorization. ARERA's decisions are expected by the end of the year. The President of the local industrial Consortium of Oristano, Massimiliano Daga, who promoted the use of LNG for the methanization of Sardinia, told local newspaper Linkoristano.it: "We would like to emphasize that the industrial Consortium has placed itself against the applicants in the same way and this was a winning policy". The President refers to the fact that the first coastal depot in Santa Giusta will also be the first in Italy and probably the first in the Mediterranean. At the same time, the construction of the gas distribution network in the Municipality of Santa Giusta is going on, involving the Municipality and the Industrial Consortium: "We hope - says the mayor of Santa Giusta Antonello Figus - to be among the first Sardinian cities to use methane". It is also the intention of President Daga to match the end of the works of the distribution network in the industrial area in conjunction with the completion of the Higas coastal deposit, at the end of July 2020.