Snam to Buy Edison's Adriatic LNG Interests

Italian gas grid Snam is to buy Edison’s interest in the 8bn m³/yr capacity Adriatic LNG terminal, plus a related pipeline asset.

Snam also this week secured a €310mn loan from the European Investment Bank for a €600mn expansion of its Italian network to connect with a new storage site at Cornegliano Laudense, 25 km southeast of Milan, and announced July 26 an 18% year on year increase in 1H 2017 net profit to €504mn.

Snam also said that gas injected its Italian national transportation network was up 11.7% year on year at 38.08bn m³ in the first half, with storage capacity up 3.4% at 12.28bn m³/yr.

Edison to be paid €225mn

Snam said July 25 that it had reached agreement with EDF’s subsidiary Edison to buy the latter’s 7.3% stake in the offshore gravity-base Adriatic LNG import terminal, plus Edison’s 100% interest in Infrastrutture Trasporto Gas (ITG), the pipe connecting Adriatic’s beach terminal to the Snam system.

Snam said it will pay €225mn ($263mn) for the combined assets, with additional upside to Edison if Adriatic LNG in the meantime signs up new users at the terminal. The transaction is expected to close by end 2017. The 83.3-km ITG from the coast at Cavarzere to Minerbio is the third largest player in the Italian gas transportation market, with transmission capacity of 9.6bn m³/yr.

Adriatic LNG's principal shareholders will continue to be ExxonMobil 70.7% and Qatar Petroleum 22%.

Snam also made wider observations about Italian gas demand in general in its July 26 results, noting that this increased by 9.6% year on year to 39.4bn m³, thanks in particular to a 21% rise in use by power plants.

Map/graphic credit: Snam 

Mark Smedley