• 18 Oct 2017

It is next to be launched in the port of Santa Giusta - Oristano, Sardinia, the first LNG coastal depot of the Mediterranean. This initiative comes after an articulated industrial, administrative and corporate process. Following the authorization from the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport of January 2017, the area where the plant will be built has been reclaimed: this was a preliminary condition for the use of the area established by the Port Authority.

So it was possible to purchase of the land and consequently, on September 29, and to go ahead with the planned capital increase and the acquisition of the majority of Higas by the Norwegian shipbuilding company Stolt Nielsen, specialized in boats for the transport of fuels.

Stolt, which already owned 10% of the project initially sponsored by a joint venture of Gas and HeatSpa in Livorno and the Emilian Cooperative CPL Concordia, went to 66.25% with an investment of around 5 million euros. The final cost of the plant is estimated at around € 30 million. The capacity of the coastal depot will be 9,000 cubic meters stored in six 1,800 tanks.

The Norwegian company is interested to the spread of LNG as a maritime fuel in the Mediterranean area as well as the need to supply it to Sardinia, where it will be used in land transport, industries and city networks. Stolt is building in Singapore two 7,500 cubic meters barges that will be able to charge LNG at large rigassifiers, take it to coastal depots and feed ships.