Italian FSRU coming back online in mid-October after maintenance works end

Italy’s floating regasification terminal operator OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, controlled by Snam and Igneo Infrastructure Partners, has confirmed the completion of uninstallation operations for its floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) off the coast of Livorno, which is now on its way to Genoa to begin maintenance activities.

With the FSRU Toscana now unhooked, OLT Offshore LNG Toscana explains that two tugs will assist in towing the FSRU to the port of Genoa, where it will remain at the dock for about a month to start the first phase of the extraordinary maintenance intervention aimed at replacing the bearing of the anchoring system, which is designed and built to ensure the rotation of the unit around the geostationary turret permanently anchored to the seabed.

As the operator has handed out a contract for the extraordinary maintenance interventions to San Giorgio del Porto (SGdP), the FSRU Toscana is expected to be towed to the port of Marseille in early June at the SGdP yard, where maintenance will be completed.

After shipyard activities are wrapped up by mid-September, these will be followed by operations to re-install the FSRU in its current site offshore Livorno. Once this is out of the way, the unit is set to resume operations from mid-October 2024.

Following its return into operation mode, 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.

Since OLT Offshore LNG Toscana secured a green light to boost its annual regasification capacity from 3.75 billion to about 5 billion standard cubic meters per year last May, the FSRU Toscana has a maximum authorized regasification capacity of 5 billion Sm3 a year.