Enagas will share 19% of Edison-Pir LNG deposit in Ravenna (Italy)

In a recent strategic agreement between Edison and Scale Gas Solutions, a subsidiary of the Enagás Group (which operates, among other things, the small scale LNG terminal in Barcelona), the Spanish company has acquired a 19% stake in Depositi Italiani GNL (DIG), which is building a coastal LNG storage facility in the port of Ravenna (rendering in the photo), consisting of two tanks of 10,000 cubic metres each.

The Barcelona facility is getting ready to become one of the main suppliers of small-scale LNG in the central Mediterranean, and Edison is building a tanker with 30,000 cubic metres of LNG. In addition to the Ravenna depot, the company is also involved in three other plants that are to be supplied: Brindisi, Naples and Santa Giusta-Oristano, in Sardinia. For the construction of the latter plant, which has already been authorised, Edison is waiting for the necessary clarifications on the tariff system for the distribution of LNG in the region, on which the profitability of the project will depend, while Italgas continues to lay the city pipelines.

The Ravenna depot, which will be able to move more than one million cubic metres of LNG per year (enough to fuel 12,000 trucks and up to 48 ferries per year) thanks to a storage capacity of 20,000 cubic metres, is now more than 70% complete and commercial operations should start in October 2021. The shareholding structure of Depositi Italiani GNL, the newco established in 2018 by Edison and PIR (Petrolifera Italo Rumena) is now 51% Pir, 30% Edison and 19% Scale Gas Solutions. Other agreements between Edison and Pir regulate the management of the future plant and the marketing activity already started.

"This operation has a significant strategic value - declared Pierre Vergerio Executive Vice President Gas Midstream, Energy Management and Gas Infrastructures of Edison - and it strengthens Edison-Enagás cooperation, that started more than two years ago for the construction of an integrated Small Scale LNG supply chain, and allows us to contribute in DIG with Scale Gas's specific skills in the Small Scale sector”.

Marcelino Oreja, CEO of Enagás, added that "collaborating on projects like this will allow the development of solid logistic chains from our terminals and will promote, in accordance with EU directives, the implementation of sustainable mobility thanks to the use of LNG in the Mediterranean".

Guido Ottolenghi, CEO of PIR, also expressed his satisfaction: "We welcome the Enagás group, through its subsidiary Scale Gas Solutions, within the shareholder structure of DIG;  its presence will strengthen the company's skills and consolidate its market position within a network of leading operators in the LNG field.