Italy’s floating storage and regasification unit off Livorno will be ready to accept and load small-scale LNG carriers at the end of this year.
Operator OLT Offshore LNG Toscana’s managing director Maurizio Zangrandi said the company’s 137,000-cbm FSRU Toscana (built 2003), which is anchored 22 km (13.6 miles) off the Tuscany coast between Livorno and Pisa, will be able to load LNG carriers of up to 120 meters in length. This corresponds to a 7,500-cbm vessel.
Comments requested
OLT — which obtained authorisation for the new small-scale service from the authorities in October — published the proposed amendments to the regasification code or the new service on its website on Wednesday.
Interested parties have until 12 April to submit their comments.
Zangrandi said that to optimise the timing, the detailed design for the project was developed in parallel with the authorisation process and then the tenders for the purchase of the necessary components and works were launched.
OLT has previously explained that work will be carried out to the port side of the FSRU to enable small-scale vessels to berth alongside. Conventional, full-size LNG carriers will continue to call at the regasification unit’s starboard side to offload their shipments.
Growing market
OLT said its small-scale project will enable Italy to be competitive in one of the markets with the highest growth rates.
The company said the small-scale LNG market in Italy logged a 26% increase in 2020.
OLT pointed to other northern European countries such as Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Scandinavia which are already offering small-scale services from their LNG terminals for both trucking, vehicles supply and bunkering.
The company highlighted that at the end of 2020 the first LNG bunkers were supplied to the 6,522-berth cruiseship Costa Smeralda (built 2019) in the Italian port of La Spezia by a small-scale LNG carrier.
"LNG as a fuel plays a fundamental role for the energy transition that will lead to zero-emission fuels by 2050, such as hydrogen," OLT said.
OLT shareholders comprise Snam with a 49.07% stake, global asset manager First Sentier Investors with 48.24% and Golar LNG on 2.69%.
