Italian energy firm Snam has decided to increase its stake in the Adriatic LNG terminal after Rotterdam-based storage terminal owner VTTI and German asset manager IKAV joined forces to take a majority stake in the facility.
Last week VTTI, co-owned by Vitol, IFM, and Adnoc, and IKAV entered a consortium to acquire majority ownership of the JV which operates the regasification terminal located off the coastline of Veneto region in Italy.
US energy firm ExxonMobil has a 70.7 percent stake in Adriatic LNG, while state-owned LNG giant QatarEnergy holds 22 percent and Snam owns 7.3 percent.
Snam said in a statement on Wednesday it has exercised its pre-emption right to increase its stake in the Adriatic LNG terminal from current 7.3 percent to 30 percent.
The firm did not provide the financial details of the deal.
Snam said the closing of the transaction is expected by the end of 2024 and is subject, among other things, to the necessary regulatory authorizations.
Upon closing of the transaction, the corporate capital of Adriatic LNG shall be held by VTTI at 70 percent and Snam at 30 percent.
Located about 15 kilometers off the Veneto coast, Adriatic LNG’s terminal is Italy’s largest offshore infrastructure for unloading, storage, and regasification of LNG, with an annual technical regasification capacity of 9.6 billion cubic meters, corresponding to about 14 percent of the current domestic gas demand.
“This operation strengthens Snam’s presence in LNG infrastructure, which is increasingly strategic for the security and diversification of Italy’s energy supplies,” CEO Stefano Venier said.
“We look forward to working together with VTTI to ensure continuous and world-class management of Adriatic LNG, which is fundamental for the Italian energy system, and to support its expansion projects,” he said.
Italian regas capacity
To date, Snam holds stakes in all the remaining regulated LNG regasification plants currently operating in Italy.
These include the Panigaglia terminal, in operation since 1971 near La Spezia, the OLT FSRU Toscana off Livorno, operational since 2013, and the FSRU Golar Tundra, operating in Piombino since July 2023, for a total regasification capacity of about 23 billion cubic meters.
As part of the initiatives undertaken since 2022 to further diversify the country’s gas supplies following the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, Snam has also acquired the FSRU BW Singapore, which will start activities off the coast of Ravenna in the first months of 2025, it said.
The total regasification capacity of the country will thus rise to 28 billion cubic meters, evenly distributed between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic sides, an amount corresponding to overall volumes imported via pipeline from Russia in 2021, Snam said.