The Italian unit of German utility group E.ON expects to obtain a green light for a planned regasification terminal at Trieste later this year, E.ON group board member Lutz Feldmann told Reuters.
The move comes amid further efforts to open up delivery opportunities for more liquefied natural gas (LNG) into Europe, Feldmann said on the sidelines of a company event in Spain.
"We expect approval for the Trieste LNG regasification project in 2009," he said.
The terminal is envisaged to have a capacity to receive and feed into Italy's gas pipeline network up to eight billion cubic metres (bcm) a year of LNG -- gas which is supercooled and turned into liquid for transport on tankers.
E.ON, traditionally a pipeline gas shipper to German industry and local utilities, is building up an LNG business around Europe to create more delivery options and flexibility, said Feldmann, who is in charge of M&A, legal and corporate development and new markets.
It has been nurturing plans for the terminal at Trieste -- named Alpi Adriatico -- in the context of its purchase of some former Endesa assets in Italy last year.
Trieste would come on top of LNG deliveries E.ON is already receiving from two terminals in Spain, and to future terminal projects which are still under construction in Britain, the Netherlands and off the coast of Livorno in Italy.
At Livorno, E.ON has booked long-term gas volumes along with other participating competitors.
Italy currently derives three percent of its power from LNG-fed gas turbine plants.Feldmann told reporters in Barcelona that E.ON in Spain in the year to date booked 5.5 terawatt hours of LNG spot supply arriving on 14 tankers, coming on top of its fixed LNG bookings, in order to supply more gas to drive power turbines.
"Through these volumes we can, at least temporarily, double our share in Spanish power generation to 10 percent," he said.
The move comes amid further efforts to open up delivery opportunities for more liquefied natural gas (LNG) into Europe, Feldmann said on the sidelines of a company event in Spain.
"We expect approval for the Trieste LNG regasification project in 2009," he said.
The terminal is envisaged to have a capacity to receive and feed into Italy's gas pipeline network up to eight billion cubic metres (bcm) a year of LNG -- gas which is supercooled and turned into liquid for transport on tankers.
E.ON, traditionally a pipeline gas shipper to German industry and local utilities, is building up an LNG business around Europe to create more delivery options and flexibility, said Feldmann, who is in charge of M&A, legal and corporate development and new markets.
It has been nurturing plans for the terminal at Trieste -- named Alpi Adriatico -- in the context of its purchase of some former Endesa assets in Italy last year.
Trieste would come on top of LNG deliveries E.ON is already receiving from two terminals in Spain, and to future terminal projects which are still under construction in Britain, the Netherlands and off the coast of Livorno in Italy.
At Livorno, E.ON has booked long-term gas volumes along with other participating competitors.
Italy currently derives three percent of its power from LNG-fed gas turbine plants.Feldmann told reporters in Barcelona that E.ON in Spain in the year to date booked 5.5 terawatt hours of LNG spot supply arriving on 14 tankers, coming on top of its fixed LNG bookings, in order to supply more gas to drive power turbines.
"Through these volumes we can, at least temporarily, double our share in Spanish power generation to 10 percent," he said.