Italy’s Snam expects to launch its FSRU-based LNG import terminal offshore Ravenna in the first quarter of 2025.
In December last year, Snam completed the purchase of BW LNG’s 2015-built FSRU BW Singapore for about $400 million.
The FSRU with a maximum storage capacity of about 170,000 cubic meters of LNG and a nominal continuous regasification capacity of about 5 billion cubic meters per year will serve the Ravenna terminal in the Adriatic Sea.
Last year, the FSRU worked in Egypt under a charter with Egas which expired in November.
After that, the vessel departed to Dubai, UAE.
According to a statement by Snam, the unit is in a shipyard in Dubai for the necessary adjustments prior to its positioning on the coast opposite Marina di Ravenna.
Snam’s CEO Stefano Venier provided an update on the Ravenna project during a press conference held in Ravenna on July 12.
New mooring platform, breakwater
Snam said the unit is expected to arrive at a jetty 8.5 km from Punta Marina at the end of the year and become operational in the first quarter of 2025.
Since February 2024, work has been underway on the dismantling of the existing Petra platform, a phase that was followed, since mid-May, by the installation of the structures of the new mooring platform, according to the firm.
This new structure will be about 440 meters long and weigh over 14,000 tonnes.
Snam previously awarded a contract for the offshore facilities to compatriot Saipem and Rosetti Marino and Micoperi.
In addition, Snam said work on the new 900 meters long breakwater, which is currently in the tender phase, will begin in August 2024 and end in October 2026, ensuring the safety and continuous operation of the terminal even in “particularly adverse weather and sea conditions”.
Overall progress is about 90 percent for land works (with 450,000 hours worked) and more than 50 percent for sea works (800,000 hours worked), Snam said.
More than $1 billion
Of the more than 240 suppliers involved in the project, more than 80 come from the province of Ravenna or Emilia-Romagna, Snam said.
Contracts have been awarded to companies in the Ravenna area for over 300 million euros ($327 million).
This corresponds to about 30 of the entire investment, Snam said.
This means that the entire project is worth about $1 billion euros ($1.09 billion).
Moreover, every year, Snam will then sustain costs of 30 million euros (maritime services, O&M activities, weather services, and monitoring), which in turn will fuel the economy of the territory, it said.
From an employment point of view, there will be more than 1,200 workers working on the project at the peak, Snam said.
Italy’s regas capacity to rise to 28 bcm
With the entry into service of BW Singapore, the Italy’s overall regasification capacity will rise to 28 billion cubic meters per year, a volume corresponding to about 45 percent of Italy’s gas demand in 2023, Snam said.
This figure is also equal to what was imported from Russia in 2021, and will help further consolidate the security of supplies in Italy, Snam noted.
Besides this FSRU, Snam in 2022 purchased the 2015-built Golar Tundra with a regasification capacity of 5 bcm from Golar LNG to install it in Piombino.
This FSRU received its first commercial shipment in Piombino from Eni in July last year and more than 29 cargoes up to date.
Snam’s 170,000-cbm FSRU is now also listed in the Italian ship registry and renamed to Italis LNG.