Italy's Adriatic LNG Has Hectic July
Italy’s Adriatic LNG offshore import terminal reported its second highest monthly input last month.
The facility, which has 8bn m3/yr import capacity and was already the most actively used of Italy’s three LNG import terminals, said its utilisation rate was 95% this July and 83% for January-July 2017, “a significantly higher rate compared to the average of other European terminals.”
It said August 28 that it delivered 0.651bn m3 gas to the national grid this July, up 27% year on year, and its second highest volume ever – lower only than its May 2011 throughput of 0.656bn m3. This year, as at end-July, the terminal regasified 3.9bn m3, 12% more than its 3.4bn m3 in the same 2016 period – with 2Q2017 regas deliveries up 15% at 1.7bn m3.
Adriatic LNG's principal shareholders are ExxonMobil 70.7% and Qatar Petroleum 22%. Italian gas grid operator Snam is in the process of buying Edison’s 7.3% remaining stake in the terminal. The terminal said increased throughput was driven by a 9.2% year on year increase in Italian gas consumption during July, citing Snam as the source of that figure.
Since its start-up in 2009, over 541 LNG carriers have arrived at the Adriatic LNG terminal mainly from Qatar – and mostly imported by EDF-owned Edison under a long-term contract -- with over 45 bn m3 of gas have been redelivered into the national grid, including much smaller volumes from Egypt, Trinidad, Equatorial Guinea, Norway and most recently Nigeria.
Recent data shows that Europe's LNG imports as a whole were up by 15% year on year in 1H2017, with Qatar and others seen putting more into this 'market of last resort.'
Pipeline gas demand is also up with Norway and Russian Gazprom reporting record days or months for deliveries to Europe.
Mark Smedley