Institutional visit of the president of the Liguria Region, government commissioner for the transfer of the regasification ship Golar Tundra off the coast of Vado Ligure, on board the Olt Offshore FSRU ‘Toscana’ ship, undergoing extraordinary maintenance in Genoa, at the Cantieri San Giorgio del Port, in the ship repair area. It is a floating terminal with layout and system characteristics different from the Golar Tundra but with the same purposes.
“For Liguria it is important that this ship is here – comments the governor at the end of the visit on board – First of all, it is work for Genoa, a sign of the excellent relationship built over time and which also extends to non-core activities of the energy supply of the country. Our ship repairs have an important ship in the pipeline. Secondly, the ship has been active for over ten years in the Tuscan archipelago, one of the most protected areas of our marine ecosystem, and has been operating without have never produced any type of disservice, much less damage or even just fear. It is a ship in external features that is very different from the one that is possible to arrive in Liguria: I say possible because we are waiting for the outcome of the procedure. of the Ministry of the Environment, on which the timing depends, and it would be unfair to express oneself before technicians and experts have had their say. Many bodies will express their opinion, from Ispra, the highest authority in the sector, to the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Port Authorities and Fire Brigade and many others. I note – continues the president of the Liguria Region – that this ship produced over 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas, just under what the Golar Tundra should produce. I also underline that this type of energy infrastructure provides security in the country: it is not an abstract concept but a very concrete one, to protect families and businesses from that reckless increase in prices resulting from the war conflict in Ukraine and general international instability, with consequences that families have paid dearly in the past months and which we still see today in the aftermath of inflation. Our country, the second manufacturing power in Europe, must equip itself with new infrastructures to have energy self-sufficiency at an acceptable cost to maintain this role, as well as protecting families from those who believe that hot water, electricity and gas are something produced for divine will and not for planning activities”.
“In 2023 alone, the OLT terminal regasified over 3.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas, making an important contribution to the security and diversification of the country’s energy supplies – stated Elio Ruggeri, President of OLT and CEO of Snam FSRU – . The terminal has been active for over 10 years and was the first FSRU to operate in the world, working safely and ensuring full environmental compatibility of its activities. We are pleased to have chosen Genoa for the first part of the terminal maintenance activities, confirming the high level of professionalism that the Ligurian territory offers for operations of this kind”.
In addition to the CEO of Snam Stefano Venier and Massimo Derchi, Chief Operations Officer of Snam, also present were the regional councilor for the Environment and Infrastructure and the coordinator of the Government commissioner structure headed by the Liguria Region Nicola Giancarlo Poggi .
OLT Offshore LNG Toscana is the company that owns the FSRU Toscana floating regasification terminal. The shareholder structure of OLT is made up as follows: Snam (49.07%), Igneo Infrastructure Partners (48.24%) and Golar LNG (2.69%).
In operation, FSRU Toscana is positioned approximately 22 km (12 nautical miles) off the coast between Livorno and Pisa. The gas is introduced into the National Gas Pipeline Network via an underwater pipeline that reaches land. The Terminal has a maximum authorized regasification capacity of approximately 5 billion Sm3 per year.
OLT is authorized to receive LNG carriers with a loading capacity between 65,000 m3 and the New Panamax class (approximately 180,000 m3), which represent approximately 90% of the fleet currently in service in the world.
The Terminal, having a system capable of correcting the Wobbe index, is able to receive the majority of the LNG coming from producing countries, correcting its specifications as required by the Italian national network. Thanks to these characteristics, the Terminal represents an important guarantee for the diversification of supplies and the country’s energy security.
Since the start of commercial operations, OLT has received cargoes from the major LNG exporting countries, such as: Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Peru, Russia, Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago and the USA.
During 2023, the Terminal received 40 cargoes of which 70% came from the United States (28 cargoes). The remaining 30% arrived from Algeria (5 loads), Nigeria (3 loads), Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Norway and Russia (1 load each). In total, FSRU Toscana injected 3,671,519,338 Sm3 into the network during the year, with coverage of the national requirement of approximately 6%.
For an extraordinary maintenance intervention aimed at replacing the bearing of the anchoring system, the Terminal is now in the port of Genoa, where it will remain on the dock for about a month.
Following a tender procedure, the company awarded the extraordinary maintenance works is San Giorgio del Porto SpA – SGdP. At the beginning of June the FSRU Toscana terminal will be moved to the port of Marseille, again at the SGdP shipyard, where the maintenance work will be completed.
The completion of construction activities is estimated by mid-September, followed by the reconnection operations of the Terminal off the coast of Livorno. FSRU Toscana is expected to resume operations by the end of October 2024.
