Snam’s Golar Tundra is permanently docked in Piombino Harbor.
Departs Singapore Port on February 21, A few minutes before 11 p.m. on Sunday March 19, the regasification ship, pulled by tugboats and at reduced speed, entered the port of Tuscany, where it will remain for three years.
As it will be fully operational – between late April and early May – will guarantee about 5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, which is about a sixth of the amount of gas currently shipped from Russia to Italy
The arrival of the regasification ship in Piombino – and with it the other similar ship planned for Ravenna – will relieve Italy of a significant proportion of its dependence on methane imports from transnational land gas pipelines from Russia and also from Azerbaijan.
Managers can turn to the markets of other continents (Africa, Americas, even Asia-Oceania) and resolve the geopolitical turmoil that can affect gas transportation only by land.
Together with the Fsru, which will operate in Ravenna, we are talking about 13 billion cubic meters per year, a strong signal in gas procurement and distribution for Italy.
Giani: “The ship makes us independent of Russian gas”
“This work makes us independent of the pipeline that brought gas from Russia, it is work that is proving to be really important. All of Italy thanks Piombino and Tuscany. Sufficiency that allows families to think about cheaper bills, families to have a sustainable energy supply”. So said Sunday evening in the port of Piombino (Livorno) the President of Tuscany, Eugenio Giani, who is also the special commissioner appointed by the government for construction of the regasification terminal on the occasion of the arrival of the Golar’s tundra ship. Giani said that “all the permits are in order, with great respect for the environment, great respect for safety”.
So far 70 demonstrations in Piombino against the Golar tundra
Several protests in Piombino yesterday morning. About fifty people took part in a flash mob who marched from the train station to the Seebahnhof, just over a kilometer away, to reinforce their opposition to the regasification plant. Over the months there have been dozens of public demonstrations with demonstrations, rallies, sit-ins, about seventy including this morning, according to some estimates collected in Piombino.
In view of the ship’s arrival, the Livorno Prefecture yesterday coordinated a series of security services, for which police and carabinieri patrols monitored both the entrance to the city and the avenue leading to the port. The port has remained accessible to maritime traffic, especially passengers. On the other hand, also for safety reasons, the wharf at which the Golar Tundra was later to moor had not been made accessible, a pier but located on the opposite side of the sea station in a port area adjacent to the large steel mills and other industries.
The Golar Tundra, a vessel with a continuous regasification capacity of 5 billion cubic meters of LNG per year
The Fsru (Floating Storage and Regasification Unit) Golar Tundra, purchased by Singapore-based Snam and flying the Marshall Islands flag, is a regasification vessel about 292 meters long, about 43 meters wide and about 55 meters high (maximum height from keel to highest point).
According to Snam, the ship is equipped with four LNG storage tanksLocated in the central part of the hull, the bow houses the regasification system, while the stern houses the crew quarters, the central control room and the service machines. Year of construction 2015The ship has a storage capacity of around 170,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas and a continuous regasification capacity of 5 billion cubic meters per year.
The Golar Tundra and the Bw Singapore, the other FSRU ship that will be based in Ravenna instead, will contribute 13% of the national energy needs. Snam bought Golar Tundra from Golar Lng Limited in June 2022 for consideration of $350 million (around €330 million) to promote greater energy security and diversification of supply to Italy.
The Golar Tundra can operate both as an LNG carrier to transport Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and as an FSRU; in Piombino it will act as a regasifier and will be periodically replenished by methane tankers. Each LNG tanker transports LNG at a temperature of -160°C and carries the liquefied natural gas to the terminal tanks. This operation is carried out by unloading arms installed on the Golar tundra, which extend and hook onto the flanges of the LNG tanker; At this point, the LNG is transferred to the tanks and stored. Afterwards it is gassed again.
The ship has a crew of about 30 men, divided into 12 deck sailors, 13 engineers and three in the galley. To date, there are 48 FSRUs in operation worldwide, 25 of which have an LNG storage capacity of between 160,000 and 180,000 cubic meters. In Europe, 10 new regasification vessel projects are being studied and developed: six in Germany, one in the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland and one in France; out of ten – Snam points out – nine envisage a location in places with strong anthropization such as city ports or locations along the coast.