VTTI, Snam wrap up acquisition of Italy’s Adriatic LNG terminal

The two firms announce the completion of the transaction in a statement on Tuesday.

Italy’s largest LNG terminal is now owned by VTTI and Snam with 70 percent and 30 percent ownership, respectively.

US energy firm ExxonMobil previously had a 70.7 percent stake in Adriatic LNG, while state-owned LNG giant QatarEnergy held 22 percent and Snam owned 7.3 percent.

Earlier this year, VTTI signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Adriatic LNG.

After that, Snam exercised a right of first refusal to increase its stake in Adriatic LNG from 7.3 percent to 30 percent.

In this new structure, Alexandra Thomas has been appointed as CEO and Alessandro Conta as COO of Adriatic LNG, according to the statement.

Thomas joins Adriatic LNG from Neptune Energy, where she was most recently managing director for Egypt, while Conta joins Adriatic LNG from Snam Rete Gas.

Launched in 2009, the world’s first offshore gravity-based LNG import terminal sits about 14 kilometers offshore of Porto Levante and has regasification capacity of about 9.6 bcm per year.

Adriatic LNG import terminal achieved a new record in the first half of this year with deliveries to the grid from its facility in the Adriatic Sea.

The regasification terminal sent 4.4 bcm of natural gas into the national pipeline network during January-June, covering over 14.2 percent of national gas consumption.

In the first 11 months of the year, Adriatic LNG injected more than 8 bcm of natural gas into the Italian gas grid (equivalent to 15 percent of national consumption), 3 percent more compared to the same period in 2023.

Adriatic LNG is the third entry source for gas imports into Italy, after pipeline imports from Algeria and Azerbaijan.