Adriatic LNG announces the arrival of its 300th LNG cargo, named Umm Bab, which left Ras Laffan Port in Qatar on October 13 and arrived after 12 days at the terminal of Porto Levante, in the Rovigo province, located 15 kilometres off the Veneto coas.

The 300° LNG carrier delivered a cargo of about 145.000 cubic meters of LNG equivalent to nearly 90 million cubic metres of gas that is the annual gas consumption of 60,000 Italian families (more or less the equivalent of the overall consumption of Valle d’Aosta region in 2012). Umm Bab is one of the 25 different LNG Carrier that have completed a successful unloading at the terminal so far.

Inaugurated on October 2009, the Adriatic LNG terminal has opened up a new phase in the national energy supply system, ensuring to Italy supplies of gas from different regions such as Qatar but also from Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, Guinea and Norway.

During its 4 years of full operations, the terminal has delivered to the national grid more than 25 billion cubic metres of gas, thus confirming the strategic role in the energy market increasing the import capacity for LNG and source differentiation.

Adriatic LNG’s Managing Director Elizabeth Westcott declared: "The arrival of cargo 300th is an important milestone in our still young history. We wish to share this success with local institutions, the community, the contractors and our shareholders. Thanks to cooperation and constant dialogue with all our stakeholders we will keep ensuring a reliable, safe and clean energy source to Italy. Thanks to Adriatic LNG terminal the Country can face winter rigid temperature more safely while being less worried by international crisis that can affect, as for the past, the energy supply ”.

“In a gas market like Italy, dependent on foreign imports for consumption, the Adriatic LNG Terminal has opened up the Italian market to new supplies of gas, strengthening the country’s energy security of supply”– added Technical director of Adriatic LNG Carlo Mangia – “Our terminal has one of the highest capacity utilization in Europe. The terminal is a reliable facility providing dependable services of high quality and added value to Italy”.

With a nominal regasification capacity of 8 billion standard cubic meters per year of gas into the national grid, the terminal is able to satisfy approximately 10% of the country’s natural gas consumption. 80% of its capacity has been allocated for 25 years to Edison (about 6.4 billions of cubic meters a year) in order to process LNG imported form Qatari North Fields, as stated in the supply agreement signed with Ras Gas. The remaining 20% capacity (about 1.6 billions of cubic meters a year) is available to other operators with 12% of it already allocated according to procedures stated by the Italian Ministry of Industry and national Energy and Gas Authority. The remaining capacity that is still available (nearly 600 millions cubic meters a year) is offered on the negotiable market ( on yearly, monthly or spot basis)

Adriatic LNG employs 125 people, more than 50% comes from Veneto, and is a significant member of the Italian industry and represents an important opportunity for the development of the province of Rovigo and the region of Veneto. Adriatic LNG has been investing over 250 million of euros so far in local contents and is continuing to put value on the utilization of local resources.