• 26 Nov 2019

On 20 November, Snam, the national public operator for the transport of natural gas, geological storage and LNG with the Panigaglia plant (La Spezia) which has recently joined the OLT offshore regasification plant in Livorno, has approved the new strategic plan of activities for the period 2019-2023, announced with a detailed press release.

As part of the commitment to “sustainable mobility”, the plan confirms the investments for the construction of two small liquefaction plants, one in the North and one in the South of Italy, plus the adaptation of the LNG terminal in Panigaglia for loading tankers and boosting the use of LNG in heavy transport, industry and residential use.

In Panigaglia there is also the possibility of supplying tankers to develop the use of LNG in maritime transport. Snam points out that a similar activity is being developed by OLT, shared by Snam at 49.07%. The operation is being examined by the antitrust authorities but, according to ConfererenzaGNL, the authorization is not in discussion since it is a "regulated" plant to which all operators can access with transparent procedures and prices.

The investments in the biomethane sector are confirmed, integrated with those planned to support the increase of liquefied and compressed natural gas distributors (LNG, bio-LNG, CNG and bio-CNG) in Italy, country leader in Europe with more than 1,350 distributors. The construction of 150 new filling stations (some of which with LNG supply) is planned, and will be carried out in collaboration with Cubogas, controlled by Snam4Mobility. To date, Snam4Mobility has already delivered eight stations and has contracted further 69 of them. Snam also confirms and relaunches the mixing of natural gas with hydrogen, and envisages a new "blending test" of 10% by the end of 2019, after the success of the operation with 5%. The new plan also includes a significant reduction in methane emissions, which will be reduced by 40% by 2025 (based on 2016) compared to the target of 25% of the previous plan. The objective will be achieved with the application to the network of a campaign to identify and repair methane leaks (LDAR, Leak Detection and Repair) and replace network components with the adoption of the best available technologies. Equally relevant are the commitments to reduce total CO2 equivalent emissions (-40% by 2030), again based on 2016, with interventions in the compression stations and the launch of six hybrid electric-gas power plants. In an interview published by Sole24ore on November 24th, Elio Ruggeri, the new LNG global manager in Snam (to whom our best wishes go), went into the project for the supply of trucks in La Spezia: “With the goal to reduce the cost of supply and not interfere with local mobility, the idea is to use small ferries that can bring the tanker trucks from the port to the terminal, unload empty vehicles, supply them and bring them back to the port, where they can take the 'highway. We expect to be ready by the beginning of 2022, putting 150,000 tons of LNG on the market each year. This is one and a half times the current Italian requirement for trucks; however, we expect the market to grow overall by 2030 to around 1.5 million tonnes. 800 thousand for land transport and 700 thousand for the supply of ships and utilities not connected to the pipeline network. "

Source: Press Release SNAM