Elio Ruggeri, Snam’s executive director of LNG revealed the arrival of the 50th cargo in a social media post on Sunday.
He claims the Piombino facility is the EU’s “busiest” FSRU terminal.
“We’re proud of the Italis LNG contribution to Italy’s energy security, having facilitated the import of approximately 4 bcm of gas from diverse global sources,” Ruggeri said.
According to the image above, the milestone LNG cargo arrived onboard the 2017-built 171,800-cbm, Ougarta, owned by Sonatrach’s unit Hyproc Shipping.
Ougarta previously picked up the cargo at Sonatrach’s Arzew LNG plant in Algeria, its AIS data provided by VesselsVaue shows.
The 170,000-cbm FSRU, Italis LNG, previously known as Golar Tundra, received its first commercial shipment from Eni in July last year.
Eni booked regasification capacity at the FSRU-based facility as part of its strategy to diversify LNG supplies to Italy through its internationally produced equity gas.
In April, the unit received its first LNG cargo from Eni’s Congo FLNG project.
Last month, Snam said in its financial report that the unit regasified a total of 2.45 bcm with 27 unloads from LNG carriers in the first nine months of 2024.
Including its Panigaglia onshore terminal in Liguria, Snam regasified 3.42 bcm of LNG during the nine-month period, a rise of 44.3 percent year-on-year.
Besides Italis LNG, Snam’s 170,000-cbm FSRU BW Singapore recently left Dubai and is on its way to Italy to start work offshore Ravenna.
According to its AIS data, the unit is expected to arrive in Italy this week.
In December last year, Snam completed the purchase of BW LNG’s 2015-built FSRU BW Singapore for about $400 million.
Snam recently said that a new mooring platform off Italy’s Ravenna is almost ready to welcome the FSRU by the end of this year.
The company expects the terminal to be operational within the first quarter of 2025.
Once in service, it will provide Italy with an additional regasification capacity of 5 bcm per year, thus reaching 40 percent of the nation’s total gas demand.
