OLT Offshore announced on Monday the publication of available capacity for the new small-scale LNG service (SSLNG).
For the first time in Italy, interested companies will be able to participate in an auction for the allocation of slots dedicated to this service, the LNG terminal operator said.
The auctions will be held on October 29, 2025.
A product consisting of 12 small-scale slots, each with a capacity of 7,500 liquid cubic meters, will be made available to operators.
The slots will be distributed monthly from November 2025 to November 2026.
Operationally, the SSLNG service provides for the loading of LNG from the FSRU onto small LNG carriers which will then be able to refuel, directly at sea, LNG-fueled naval units, or discharge the fuel at coastal storage facilities in major Mediterranean ports, OLT Offshore said.
Furthermore, the plant’s features will also allow it to receive LNG from small LNG carriers, which will then be regasified and fed into the grid (complementary slots).
OLT Offshore said these slots will be offered in subsequent auctions, once the available regasification capacity has been confirmed, on an infra-annual basis.
Life extension
Earlier this year, OLT Offshore said that the FSRU Toscana will be in operation until the end of 2044 due to life extension work carried out on the FSRU in 2024.
In November 2024, the 137,100-cbm FSRU resumed operations about 22 km off the coast between Livorno and Pisa following completion of “extraordinary” maintenance at SGdP’s yards in Italy and France.
OLT said that while the FSRU was in the yard, the firm also carried out a set of works aimed at extending the useful life of the FSRU Toscana.
After that, RINA (Italian Naval Registry) issued the “declaration certifying the extension of the useful life of the terminal for an additional 20 years, ensuring operability and reliability until 2044.”
The FSRU has a maximum regasification capacity of 5 bcm a year and sends natural gas to Italy’s national grid via a 36.5-kilometer-long pipeline.
Italy’s Snam holds a 49.07 percent stake in the LNG terminal, while Igneo Infrastructure Partners owns a 48.24 percent share.
Also, Golar LNG, which provided the 2003-built FSRU, has a minor 2.69 percent stake in the LNG import facility.
