LNG in transport is boosting worldwide and in Italy is a 1.7 billion business

Next May in Naples will be held the 5th euro-mediterranean Conference on direct uses of LNG. 2019 is the year of maritime transportation thanks also to the arrival of the first LNG ships in the Mediterranean Sea. A whole new green future for LNG made from bio-methane and syn-methane is coming.

Next 15th and 16th of May, Naples will be the euro-mediterranean capital for small scale LNG. All the aspects of the new supply chain will be illustrated and analyzed by some of the most important world experts. Companies will showcase their future projects during the Conference&Expo that will be held in Mostra d’Oltremare Conference Center. It will be also a great opportunity to see LNG trucks, tankers and cryogenic tanks.

 “The Small Scale LNG Use, Euro-Mediterranean Conference & Expo”, promoted by ConferenzaGNL and organized by Mirumir, now in its fifth edition, is an international initiative where it is possible to find all the latest information about LNG end uses and to meet all the stakeholders involved in the LNG sectors: maritime, road, railroad, space, both regional and urban public transport services and isolated grids and industries.

In the last 2 years LNG sector grown in Asia, North America and particularly in Europe, with best progress recorded for maritime sector in Scandinavian area and for road transportation in the Mediterranean one. The Mediterranean Sea will be soon sailed by big LNG cruise ships and cargo ships on the Suez-Gibraltar route.

Italy is the real start upper of this sector, with investments, stated by companies and calculated by ConferenzaGNL, that have gone from 300 million € in 2017 to 1.783 million € in 2019 distributed as follows: 132 million € for regasification terminals and coastal deposits; 62 million € for LNG and L-CNG refueling stations and local industrial deposits; 302 million € for off-grid networks; 243 million € for LNG trucks and tankers; 300 million € for LNG ships built in Italian shipyard; 240 million € for mini-liquefaction processes and bioLNG production; 64 million € for the purchase of LNG; 440 million € for the construction of cruise and cargo ships in not-italian shipyard.

Road transportation companies and shipowners prefer LNG, rather than for the lower price compared to oil products, for environmental sustainability aspects and for the compliance with international agreements on climate-change emissions.

Also R&D sector is on this track, working to produce “renewable LNG”. Not only LNG from biological row materials but also synthetic LNG (power to gas: hydrogen from electrical renewable sources mixed with CO2 captured from the environment) and a combinations of liquid oxygen and methane.

The initiative, sponsored by Edison, Snam and other important stakeholders, will be an important opportunity to debate on status and prospects for LNG sector: the first plenary session, held in the morning of May 15th, will focus on the LNG role in a sustainable energy transition.

The recent growing LNG demand at a global level points out a problem on the LNG supply side, mostly for ship refueling operations.

No harbor in the Mediterranean Sea can provide a direct refuel service from coastal deposit to ship and tankers do not have information about ship-to-ship serivces. The nearest supply station is Zeebrugge, in the English Channel.

The special session “Who to supply the LNG market?” will be held in the early afternoon of May 15th exactly on this issue.

Two sessions on “heavy road transportations and railway transportation” and “maritime transportation” will follow in parallel. The plenary session of May 16th aims to investigate the role of LNG in Italy, Europe and the Mediterranean region, taking into account also the Middle East and Africa.

The institutional round table with ministerial and institutional representatives coming from the Mediterranean area that will follow, will focus on how to promote the LNG final uses in this region. Representatives from European Commission, OME, Tunisia, Greece, Spain, Turkey, Egypt will attend the Roundtable also thanks to the international network held by WEC Italy.

The two parallel sessions of the afternoon will be dedicated to the environmental aspects of the sector, with mini-liquefaction and “renewable LNG” as key issues of the first session, and technological innovation as a key issue of the second one.

For the first time in a Conference on LNG, the discussion will deal also with LNG use as propellent for space carriers.

The undersecretary of energy Davide Crippa, the deputy minister for transport Edoardo Rixi and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development, Labour and Social Policies Luigi Di Maio will attend the Conference, confirming the interest of the institutions in the LNG sector, already emerged as a priority issue both in the integrated energy and climate plan and in the port energy guidelines.

  LINK TO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PROGRAMME | HERE                                                                 LINK TO REGISTRATION PAGE | HERE DOWNLOAD PDF   PRESS CONTACTS: Press Office – Giovanna De Cesare | giovannadc9@gmail.com – 327 558 8358 Event Manager – Daniela Pitton | daniela.pitton@mirumir.it  – 346 5951336 Communication – Danilo Crovella | danilo.crovella@mirumir.it – 351 8565350