Italy’s Venice LNG said it has received regulatory approval to build and operate a small-scale terminal in Porto Marghera in the northern Adriatic Sea.
The unit of Italian storage firm Decal secured the approval from the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport, in agreement with the Veneto Region.
With a storage capacity of 32,000 cubic meters, the planned facility will be located at Decal’s current oil storage facility in Porto Marghera, which is a part of the Port of Venice.
Moreover, the new facility would provide LNG for road transport and shipping as a cleaner alternative to fuel oil and marine diesel.
The Venice LNG storage terminal would receive the fuel from small-scale vessels but also medium-sized carriers for onward distribution via trucks, ISO tanks and barges.
The project developer expects construction works to last for two years with a total investment of more than 100 million euros ($120 million).
Furthermore, the Northern Adriatic Sea Port System Authority supports the project co-financed by the EU under the Connecting Europe Facility for a total of 18.5 million euros.
The facility in Porto Marghera would not be the first Italian small-scale LNG terminal. Avenir LNG’s Higas small-scale terminal located on the Italian island of Sardinia is ready for launch a should start commercial operations in February.
