(Alliance News) - Snam Spa announced Wednesday that it has exercised its right of first refusal to increase from the current 7.3 percent to 30 percent its stake in Terminale GNL Adriatico Srl, the company headed by Adriatic LNG, the regasification terminal operating in Italian waters off Porto Viro, in the province of Rovigo.

The right of first refusal was exercised following the signing of an agreement by VTTI, a Dutch company specializing in energy storage and infrastructure, to acquire a majority stake in the company.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2024 and is subject to, among other things, the necessary regulatory approvals. Upon closing, the share capital of Adriatic LNG will be held by VTTI at 70 percent and Snam at 30 percent.

Located about 15 kilometers off the coast of Veneto, the Adriatic LNG terminal is the largest offshore infrastructure for offloading, storage and regasification of liquefied natural gas in the country, with an annual technical regasification capacity of 9.6 billion cubic meters, corresponding to about 14 percent of current national gas demand.

"This operation reinforces Snam's presence in a sector, that of LNG infrastructure, which is increasingly strategic for the security and diversification of the country's energy supplies," commented Snam CEO Stefano Venier. "We are pleased to collaborate with VTTI to guarantee in continuity the optimal management of Adriatic LNG, a key asset for the Italian energy system, and to support its expansion projects.

In this context, Snam will ensure greater resilience of the Italian regasification infrastructure, with the aim of enhancing the security and diversification of supply to the national energy system.

As of today, in fact, Snam holds stakes in all the remaining LNG regasification plants currently operating on Italian territory: the Panigaglia terminal, in operation since 1971 near La Spezia; OLT's FSRU Toscana offshore Livorno, operational since 2013; and the FSRU Golar Tundra, in operation in Piombino since July 2023; for a total regasification capacity of about 23 billion cubic meters.

As part of the initiatives undertaken since 2022 to further diversify the country's gas supplies in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, Snam has also acquired the floating regasifier BW Singapore, which will come into operation off the coast of Ravenna in early 2025. The country's total regasification capacity will thus rise to 28 billion cubic meters, equally distributed between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic sides, for a total volume corresponding to that imported via pipeline from Russia in 2021.

Snam's stock closed Wednesday up 1.3 percent at EUR4.43 per share.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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