With Italian FSRU en route to its post, tender goes up to secure LNG needed for cool-down and gas-up ops

Italy’s floating regasification terminal operator OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, controlled by Snam and Igneo Infrastructure Partners, has kicked off the required procedure to bring its floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) back online since maintenance activities have been wrapped up and the unit will soon be back at its post off the coast of Livorno.

Once the FSRU Toscana was unhooked, two tugs assisted in towing the unit to the port of Genoa, where it was expected to remain at the dock for about a month to start the first phase of its extraordinary maintenance intervention. After the FSRU Toscana finished the first maintenance phase on schedule, it left Genoa for Marseille to begin the second phase, thanks to a contract with San Giorgio del Porto (SGdP).

Following the conclusion of the extraordinary maintenance activities, the FSRU Toscana left Marseille on September 30 to be towed back to Italy. The estimated time of arrival (ETA) at the site off the coast between Livorno and Pisa, where it was previously moored, for its re-installation and reconnection to the gas system, is scheduled for Wednesday, October 2.

OLT Offshore LNG Toscana disclosed its plan to start a tender process to identify a subject able to discharge 30,000 cbm of LNG, equal to approximately 200,000 MWh, which are the required quantities of liquefied natural gas for the cool-down and gas-up activities of the FSRU Toscana terminal, necessary for cooling the LNG storage tanks and all cryogenic parts of the plant to put gas in the terminal.

Those interested in the tender procedure have been advised to send their economic offer and supporting documents on October 10, 2024, from 09:00 am CET to 12:00. Based on the firm’s annual unloading and loading schedule for the gas year 2024/2025, the next awarded delivery slot arrival window with associated regasification capacity is on November 24, 2024.

The operator is now awaiting the completion of the procedure for receiving quantities of liquefied natural gas concerning the cool-down and gas-up activities of the FSRU Toscana terminal, necessary for cooling the LNG storage tanks and all the cryogenic parts of the plant needed to put the terminal in gas mode.

Afterward, the FSRU Toscana, moored about 22 km off the coast between Livorno and Pisa, will be once again connected to the national grid through a 36.5 km long pipeline, operated and managed by Snam, of which about 29.5 km is at sea, 5 km in the floodway, and the remaining 2 km on dry land.

This FSRU has a maximum authorized regasification capacity of 5 billion standard cubic meters a year as it got a green light to increase annual regasification capacity from 3.75 billion to about 5 billion standard cubic meters per year in May 2023.