MILAN (Reuters) -The chief executive of Snam welcomed on Tuesday the European Commission’s green light for a deal for Italy’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, Adriatic LNG.
Earlier this year energy storage group VTTI agreed to buy a 70% stake in Adriatic LNG, with grid operator Snam increasing its stake to 30% as ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy sold the infrastructure.
The LNG terminal is about nine miles (15 km) off the Veneto coastline and has a regasification capacity of 9 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year.
It is considered key infrastructure for Italy’s energy security after the import of LNG increased significantly to replace the gas that used to flow via pipeline from Russia before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Commission said on Tuesday it had approved the acquisition of joint control by Snam and VTTI, saying the deal would not raise competition concerns.
Snam CEO Stefano Venier said in a statement that the closing of the transaction was expected at the beginning of December.
(Reporting by Francesca Landini in Milan, Foo Yun Chee in Brussels,Editing by Keith Weir)
