Italy’s Adriatic LNG terminal, owned by ExxonMobil, QatarEnergy, and Snam, is offering in total about 147 bcm of regasification capacity for the period from October 2022 to December 2047.
Launched in 2009, the world’s first offshore gravity-based LNG import terminal sits about 14 kilometers offshore of Porto Levante in the northern Adriatic.
ExxonMobil has a 71 percent stake in Adriatic LNG, while QatarEnergy holds 22 percent, and Snam owns 7 percent.
Earlier this year, the biggest LNG regasification terminal out of three large facilities in Italy increased its capacity from 8 to 9 bcm per year.
Now the terminal owner has launched the accreditation phase for the open season 2022 for European and international operators interested in partaking the auction sessions for the allocation of regasification capacity, it said this week.
Operators may apply until July 5 for their accreditation to participate in the binding phase of the open season 2022, which will start on July 11 and will end on July 29, according to Adriatic LNG.
Considering an overall LNG regasification capacity of about 147 bcm of natural gas, the open season is an opportunity to increase national and European imports of LNG and, at the same time, diversify gas supply sources, it said.
Adriatic LNG has received LNG from a wide range of geographic areas so far, including Qatar, the USA, Egypt, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago and China.
Additional regas capacity
In the open season framework, Adriatic LNG is also conducting two market tests to verify the potential interest of operators in the possible development of two initiatives.
This includes boosting regasification capacity from 0.5 bcm to 2 bcm per year and Wobbe index correction service.
The deadline for expressing interest in one or both these initiatives expire on July 31.
Sebastien Bumbolo, general counsel and market unit manager at Adriatic LNG said, “the European LNG market today is able to compete with the Asian one.”
“This should attract LNG produced today and in the future from multiple countries around the world,” Bumbolo said.
“We want to continue in our commitment to offer Italy and Europe the possibility of importing greater quantities of LNG from more sources and from new suppliers, thus also increasing the competitiveness of the market,” Alfredo Balena, director of public and government affairs at Adriatic LNG said.
“To strengthen the resilience of our energy system, it is necessary to use 100 percent of the regasification capacity of the terminals that are operational today,” Balena said.
Besides the Adriatic LNG terminal, Italy has Snam’s Panigaglia onshore LNG terminal and FSRU Toscana. Snam also signed two Italian FSRU deals this year with Golar LNG.
Italy also hosts small-scale facilities such as the terminal in the port of Ravenna and the Higas terminal located on the Italian island of Sardinia.