Business sector profile

Snam Rete Gas manages the gas pipeline network via 8 districts, 48 maintenance centres throughout Italy, 11 gas compression stations and a new dispatching unit, with completely new structures and technology.

In transportation, the natural gas is loaded at delivery points connected to the import lines (Russia, northern Europe and North Africa), the regasification plants and the gas production and storage centres distributed throughout Italy. The gas is then transported for delivery, based on customer directions, to redelivery points connected to local distribution networks and to major industrial and thermoelectric consumers.

GNL Italia manages the regasifier in Panigaglia (La Spezia), the first plant of its kind, which was built in Italy in 1971.

Regasification is the final activity in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) chain and involves taking gas extracted from deposits and then liquefied at −160° back to its original state for transportation on purpose-built ships. In the gas system, the LNG chain thus enables diversification of supply sources.

Stogit manages eight storage fields in Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Abruzzo, under concession. The fields comprise deposits, wells, pipes, processing plants and compression stations. Stogit also manages an operational dispatching system.

Natural gas storage involves injecting gas into the porous rock of an exhausted deposit that previously contained it, bringing the deposit back, to a certain extent, to its original state. Once stored, the gas can be reintroduced into the transportation system and supplied according to market demand. In the gas system, storage makes it possible to offset the difference between gas supply and demand and therefore to ensure continued supply.

Italgas, with the subsidiary Napoletanagas and A.E.S., manages an integrated system of infrastructure, mainly self-owned, comprising gas withdrawal stations, local pipelines, pressure reduction plants and redelivery points where gas meters are installed.

The distribution service consists of carrying gas from transportation network connection points to points for redelivery to end user. The service is performed on behalf of the sales companies authorised to sell gas.

The system is overseen, 24/7 and 365 days a year, by the Integrated Supervision Centre.