France's GDF Suez hopes to start an offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Italy in 2012, the executive of its Italian division said on Wednesday.
Italy has scarce natural resources and relies on natural gas imports to cover about 85 percent of its needs. The country is trying to diversify its supplies to reduce its dependence on gas imports from Russia and Algeria.
Italy has only one operating LNG terminal with an under 4 billion cubic metre (bcm) capacity, owned by ENI, the energy giant.
GDF Suez has received the initial approval from local authorities to build the terminal 30 km off the Adriatic coast south of the port of Ancona, said Andrea Galeti, head of business development at its Italian division.
GDF Suez wants to complete a multistage authorisation process by the end of 2009 and make the terminal operational in 2012, Galeti told an energy conference in this Italian city.
"Our group has a strong will to go ahead with this project," Galeti said, adding that he expected the permitting process to be less than smooth.
Authorisation of big industrial projects can take years in Italy, often because of local opposition.
It took more than 10 years for ExxonMobile , Qatar Petroleum and Italy's Edison to push through an 8 bcm LNG terminal. The 600 million euro ($771.3 million) project will see GDF Suez build a ship-based terminal with an initial capacity of 5 bcm that can be doubled if a second ship is added, Galeti said.
GDF Suez was not afraid of competition from Exxon, whose terminal -- the first to be built in Italy since the 1970s -- is expected to be up and running in 2009, he said.
Nor was GFD Suez afraid of another authorised project led by Germany's E.ON and Italian utility Iride to build an offshore LNG terminal of up to 5.2 bcm near Livorno, not far from Pisa, Galeti said.
"There is room for everyone in Italy. We have gas and we are not afraid of competition," he said.
Galeti said GDF Suez may offer a minority stake in the project to a third party and some potential investors have already shown interest. No talks were under way, he added.
Valter Pallano, chief executive of Livorno's project -- OLT Offshore LNG Toscana -- said he expected the 600 million euro terminal to be operating in 2011. Its authorised capacity is 3.75 bcm, but it can be extended to 5.2 bcm, he said.
Italy has scarce natural resources and relies on natural gas imports to cover about 85 percent of its needs. The country is trying to diversify its supplies to reduce its dependence on gas imports from Russia and Algeria.
Italy has only one operating LNG terminal with an under 4 billion cubic metre (bcm) capacity, owned by ENI, the energy giant.
GDF Suez has received the initial approval from local authorities to build the terminal 30 km off the Adriatic coast south of the port of Ancona, said Andrea Galeti, head of business development at its Italian division.
GDF Suez wants to complete a multistage authorisation process by the end of 2009 and make the terminal operational in 2012, Galeti told an energy conference in this Italian city.
"Our group has a strong will to go ahead with this project," Galeti said, adding that he expected the permitting process to be less than smooth.
Authorisation of big industrial projects can take years in Italy, often because of local opposition.
It took more than 10 years for ExxonMobile , Qatar Petroleum and Italy's Edison to push through an 8 bcm LNG terminal. The 600 million euro ($771.3 million) project will see GDF Suez build a ship-based terminal with an initial capacity of 5 bcm that can be doubled if a second ship is added, Galeti said.
GDF Suez was not afraid of competition from Exxon, whose terminal -- the first to be built in Italy since the 1970s -- is expected to be up and running in 2009, he said.
Nor was GFD Suez afraid of another authorised project led by Germany's E.ON and Italian utility Iride to build an offshore LNG terminal of up to 5.2 bcm near Livorno, not far from Pisa, Galeti said.
"There is room for everyone in Italy. We have gas and we are not afraid of competition," he said.
Galeti said GDF Suez may offer a minority stake in the project to a third party and some potential investors have already shown interest. No talks were under way, he added.
Valter Pallano, chief executive of Livorno's project -- OLT Offshore LNG Toscana -- said he expected the 600 million euro terminal to be operating in 2011. Its authorised capacity is 3.75 bcm, but it can be extended to 5.2 bcm, he said.