Our province is home to the Adriatic Lng terminal, the main Italian regasification plant and among the most important in Europe. It is a hub through which approximately 14% of the natural gas consumed in Italy passes and, therefore, an infrastructure of strategic value at a national and European level. Simona D’Angelosante, Head of Market Unit of Adriatic Lngleads an all-female team that manages relationships with customers and regulatory authorities, evaluates the needs of the main national and international market operators to adapt the offer of services and make it increasingly competitive.
The topic of energy supply in our country is now on the agenda. In this context, what role does natural gas play?
“Our country has historically been one of the largest gas consumers in Europe and is highly dependent on imports: national production has been in constant decline over the years and in 2023 it only met approximately 4.9% of total demand. Therefore, gas supply can take place via pipeline or through regasification terminals, i.e. through plants such as Adriatic LNG, capable of receiving ships loaded with LNG, or liquefied natural gas, coming from various producing countries around the world. In the terminals, the LNG is unloaded, returned to a gaseous state (ed. regasified) and fed into the national grid to be used in all sectors, from industrial to residential, up to electricity production. For a couple of years, LNG has also been playing an even more significant role because it compensates for the decline in gas pipeline flows from Russia, confirming its role as a flexible source”.
Flexibility and safety: a key role confirmed by the numbers.
“In 2023, the terminal injected 8.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas into the network, confirming its position as the third source of entry for gas imports in Italy. To give you a term of comparison close to our daily life, these 8.5 billion cubic meters correspond to an amount of energy equal to approximately 93 million megawatt hours, equivalent to the total energy consumption of the entire Veneto and Lombardy region in a year. I would also like to mention two very important results that we achieved in 2023: the regasification capacity utilization rate of 88%, higher than the average of European regasification plants, and the reliability rate of regasification operations which was 99.6%. In short, the Adriatic LNG terminal is one of the most used and, at the same time, most reliable regasification plants”.
Why is natural gas an important source towards the energy transition?
“First of all, it is the fossil fuel with the lowest carbon footprint and therefore produces lower CO2 emissions. The natural gas supply chain can also count on a highly developed infrastructure network that can also act as a vehicle for the penetration of renewable gases, such as biomethane, in the future. Furthermore, thanks to its ease of storage and flexibility, natural gas can meet peaks in energy demand and be used as a back-up resource to compensate for the intermittency of renewables and ensure continuity and regulation in electricity production, making the energy system efficient and safe on the path to a greener future.”
Your team is working on a specific project this time of year. What is it?
“Adriatic LNG has recently launched the Open Season, a procedure through which the regasification capacity available in the medium and long term is offered to the market. This is a very important activity for Adriatic LNG and more generally for the energy security of our country, as it offers the possibility of increasing LNG imports and opening new LNG routes to Italy and Europe, also in light of the expected increase in global liquefaction capacity in the coming years”.
