We immediately initiated discussions, especially with Snam, to assess the timing. In the coming days, we will hold a working group meeting where we will ask for a timetable of activities to be drawn up , also in collaboration with Mase.

This is how Emanuele Cani, regional councilor for industry, responded to questions about the timing of methane's arrival on the island, on the sidelines of the conference organized in Cagliari by Uiltec on energy, industry, and the environment. " We're starting with authorization work, even though everything related to the connection between Oristano and southern Sardinia has already been authorized, there are still several aspects that need to be refined."

Cani is keen to point out that "among the conditions proposed to the government and the Ministry of Economic Development during the negotiations on the Prime Ministerial Decree, was to appoint Regional President Alessandra Todde as sole commissioner for the works. This would have given us full control and the ability to define and manage the timelines, but this option was not granted to us, and the government took over the project."

The result: no certainty about the timeline. "Today, all we can do is urge the government," the councilor emphasizes, "to act as quickly as possible in urging Snam and all the parties who will need to contribute, so that the project can be completed as quickly as possible."

The major political goal "is for prices for citizens to be the same as the rest of Italy," Cani assures.

Elio Ruggeri, managing director of Snam Energy Terminals, also at the Cagliari conference, has fewer doubts: he outlines the roadmap, while awaiting the energy decree, which "has had a long gestation period."

"The document describes an infrastructure package that will allow for the extension of the national gas pipeline network from the mainland to Sardinia," he explained to journalists in detail on the sidelines, "using a system for moving LNG, which will be loaded at mainland terminals, then transported by barges to Sardinian terminals, regasified, and fed into the Sardinian gas network."

"This will allow Sardinian users to obtain gas under the same conditions as all other national users, bridging a decade-long gap," assures the manager. "We have been working on this plan since the first draft of the Prime Ministerial Decree, advancing a series of modernization and expansion activities at the Panigaglia terminal (in Tuscany). To date, during the authorization process, we have signed an agreement with HiGas shareholders to acquire the coastal depot, which will then be expanded through the construction of the FSR (Floating Storage Regasification). We are also working to procure the barges that will be used to move the LNG from one terminal to the others."

The construction timeline hasn't yet been determined, "it depends on the authorization process," Ruggeri emphasizes. "With HiGas, we will soon submit authorization requests to modernize the Oristano terminal and transform it into a fully-fledged regasification terminal. After that, we'll wait for the green light before we can begin the construction phase: the sooner we have the authorizations, the sooner the works will be operational. The vessel has been identified, and we're working with the supplier to finalize the engineering work as well. Some work will be necessary, but this too will be subject to authorization."

(Unioneonline)

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