Italy will have two regasification terminals in Ravenna and Piombino. The two plants will be added to the three already existing ones and will serve to further diversify the supply, replacing Russian gas through the conversion of LNG, which is liquefied natural gas. The approval process for the Ravenna regasification terminal has been relatively quick, while protests from local politicians and citizens in Piombino are delaying its commissioning, even as Tar Municipality rejects its appeal. The contribution of the two new regasification plants will be fundamental to guaranteeing Italy the necessary supply without gas from Russia as early as 2023: but how much gas are we talking about?
- How does a regasifier work?
- Regasification terminals in Italy: where they are located
- The “weight” of LNG in the annual Italian gas demand
- What is changing at the regasification terminals of Ravenna and Piombino?
How does a regasifier work?
Regasification plants convert liquefied natural gas (LNG) into gas. After extraction, natural gas can be liquefied by cooling at -160 degrees Celsius, significantly reducing its volume. The gas that turns into liquid can be stored and transported more easily, even by sea, thanks to special LNG carriers.
In this way, LNG can be transported thousands of kilometers to regasification plants without the need for gas pipelines. When it arrives at its destination, the liquefied natural gas is discharged into the regasification plant to be regassed, and thus fed into the national grid.
LNG terminals may be in the form of floating land-based installations, which can “receive” LNG tankers, such as regasification vessels that can be placed on port quays or offshore. Floating regasification plants are also called Fsru, Floating Storage and Regasification Units.
LNG carriers transfer the liquid gas to the tanks of the regasification terminal. Transfer takes place via steel discharge arms attached to the regasification vessel, which is connected to the LNG tanker to receive the gas.
Next, the liquid gas is made solid thanks to the temperature difference: liquid methane at a temperature of -160 degrees Celsius comes into a heat exchanger through which a warmer liquid, usually seawater, flows. The temperature difference turns the methane gas into gas.
The heat exchanger – through which LNG flows – is made of a steel coil and is immersed in a tank with continuously circulating room temperature water to prevent it from cooling. The temperature at which the water returns to the sea is constantly monitored and must be within the permissible limits. The ambient temperature gas from the regasification process is then compressed and fed into a gas pipeline that reaches the national transport network.
Regasification terminals in Italy: where they are located
Currently, Italy has three regasification plants in Liguria, on land and two offshore, facing the Tuscany and Veneto coasts. Regasification terminals are located at:
- Panigaglia, Liguria: owned by Panigaglia terminal snamis the first regasification plant built in Italy. It has the capacity to deliver a maximum of 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year to the network;
- Livorno: Off the coast of Livorno is Olt, a floating regasification terminal capable of supplying 3.7 billion cubic meters of gas per year;
- Porto Viro, Veneto: On the coast of Porto Viro, in the province of Rovigo, is Italy’s most important regasification plant. It is a floating offshore regasification plant. Adriatic Lng: Guarantees Italy’s LNG supply mainly from Qatar, but also from Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, Equatorial Guinea and Norway. It can supply 9 billion cubic meters of gas per year to the grid, which is about 12 percent of the total consumption.
Weight of LNG in Italian gas supply
In 2022, LNG contributed to the process of diversifying gas supply in Italy to replace Russia. Its "weight" has increased significantly over the past year: in 2022, LNG accounted for 21 percent of the total gas supply.
For comparison, 9.8 billion cubic meters of gas from regasification of LNG arrived in Italy in 2021. In 2022, its assets increased by 46 percent to reach 14 billion cubic meters.
Regasification terminals of Ravenna and Piombino
The government has decided to increase Italy's regasification capacity by adding two more to the existing three plants. The designated points are Ravenna and Piombino.
For the Ravenna plant, Snam acquires the storage and regasification vessel BW Singapore, It has a regasification capacity of approximately 5 billion cubic meters. The ship will be located in the Upper Adriatic, 8.5 km off the coast of Ravenna. The investment amounts to around one billion euros: half of the costs will be covered by the purchase of the ship, while the rest will be used to build a 32-kilometer pipeline to connect the plant to the existing national network. Among the compensation interventions is even 100 hectares of forest.
Ravenna was chosen as the location for the new regasification terminal because in Minerbio, east of Bologna, Snam has one of Europe's most important gas storage facilities allowing injection into the national network. The Ravenna regasification terminal should start operating in the fall of 2024.
The situation in Piombino is not progressing as quickly as in Ravenna. Snam buys regasification vessel Golar Tundra, about 330 million euros. The Tuscan Region's extraordinary commissioner for the facility, Region President Eugenio Giani, signed the ordinance for the installation, but the mobilization of citizens and local politics has slowed implementation and permitting.
The mayor of Piombino, Francesco Ferrari, a shareholder of Brothers of Italy, objected to the authorization and appealed, but was later rejected by the TAR. Commissioning is scheduled for April-May 2023.
The two regasification plants in Ravenna and Piombino will each supply around 5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, so a total of 10: the two regasification plants alone, if we consider Italy's annual gas requirement of 68.6 billion cubic meters in 2022. ,6, which brings the total share of LNG to over 35 percent of imports. The contribution of LNG and regasifiers will be vital to completely replace the gas supply from Russia by 2023.
Source: Today IT
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
