Snam is Europe’s top operator in integrated infrastructure management in the regulated gas sector. It is present in natural gas transportation, regasification, storage and distribution, and it boasts major gas infrastructure throughout almost all of Italy. Snam has the ability to execute major local works, capable of ensuring that the country has secure gas supplies and full-capacity storage facility operation thanks to its unique knowledge of managing an integrated national gas system. The Company has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since December 2001, and Snam shares are included both in the FTSE MIB Italian index and in the European sector-based Stoxx 600 Utilities index.
As a result of the Legislative Decree through which our country, in choosing functional autonomy in the transportation segment, implemented the European Union’s Third Energy Package, Snam has changed its corporate structure, at the same time strengthening its characteristics of specialisation and independence, and continuing to preserve the efficiencies achieved following the Stogit and Italgas acquisitions, which took place in 2009. The new corporate structure, accompanied by a review of the group’s entire identity system, is the consequence of the switch from three to four operating companies, one for each business activity, which are responsible for strategies and results, joined under a corporate in charge of exercising guidance, coordination and control functions, and of providing service in observance of unbundling rules. With the new structure, the internal organisation has also changed at the companies, which are now all equipped with their own structures for interfacing with customers (sales) and suppliers (procurement). The Independent Transmission Operator (ITO), Snam Rete Gas, has also become autonomous in managing HR (Human Resources), ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and legal affairs.
The new brand
Among the specifics provided for by the Legislative Decree implementing the Third Energy Package is a provision for the Independent Transportation Operator to adopt autonomous communication and branding policies.
This has given Snam the opportunity to redefine its entire identity system and create a new brand. The graphic result is a reworking of the group’s historic logo from the 1940s, which emphasises Snam’s strategic role, retaining the distinctive features and the value system of the original. The logo refers to the network infrastructure, and its linear elements restore a formal equilibrium that is intended to convey the idea of the stability of a player whose assets have had significant value for the country in terms of security, reliability, and development. The colours chosen are blue, traditionally used to emphasise the natural essence of methane gas, and different shades of grey, to show the physical element of infrastructure and technology.
Ten years on the Stock Exchange
On 6 December 2001, Snam Rete Gas, now Snam, celebrated its debut on the Milan Stock Exchange. Throughout this period, the Company has notched up a success story in terms of both creating value for shareholders and developing the countrywide system. In the decade from 2001-2011, the transportation network went from 29,600 km to almost 31,700 km, transportation capacity increased by 50%, and the volume of gas transported grew from about 70 billion cubic metres in 2001 to over 83 billion cubic metres in 2010.
Since listing on the Stock Exchange, Snam Rete Gas has always closed its financial year with a profit and distributed dividends. In 10 years as a listed company, it has distributed approximately 4.7 billion in dividends, corresponding on average to about 73% of net profits. Investors who subscribed for the shares at the time of the initial offering have earned a return of about 150%.
This massive effort has made it possible to meet the country’s need to have a gas system that is more secure and more flexible in terms of supply and to ensure attractive and sustainable returns for shareholders, while remaining well rooted in the culture of sustainable development, paying the utmost heed to security and quality in the provision of services.
SNAM GROUP AS AT 1 JANUARY 2012
INFRASTRUCTURE
ACTIVITIES AND OPERATING DATA
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2011 |
2010 |
Change |
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Transportation |
The transportation business takes delivery of gas at delivery points located in connection with natural gas importation lines from Russia, Northern Europe and North Africa, with regasification plants and with gas production and storage centres located in Italy. The gas is then transported to be delivered, based on customer instructions, at redelivery points connected to local distribution networks and to major industrial and thermoelectric users. |
Pipeline transportation network |
32,010 |
31,680 |
1 |
|
Installed power in compression stations |
884 |
861 |
2.7 | ||
|
Gas injected into the network |
78.30 |
83.31 |
-6 | ||
|
Regasification |
Regasification is the last activity in the so-called liquefied natural gas (LNG) chain, and it consists of returning to its natural state the gas extracted from deposits and then liquefied at a temperature of -160° to allow it to be transported on specially built tankers. |
Number of methane tankers unloading |
50 |
54 |
-7.4 |
|
Regasification of LNG |
1.89 |
1.98 |
-4.5 | ||
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Storage |
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. |
Storage capacity |
10.0 |
9.2 |
8.7 |
|
Natural gas moved through the storage system |
15.31 |
15.59 |
-1.8 | ||
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Distribution |
The distribution service consists of carrying gas from transportation network connection points to points for redelivery to end customers. The service is performed on behalf of the sales companies authorised to sell gas. |
Pipeline distribution network |
50,307 |
50,307 |
0.01 |
|
Gas distribution concessions |
1,449 |
1,448 |
0.1 | ||
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Active meters |
5,897 |
5,848 |
0.8 | ||
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Gas distribution |
7.45 |
7.95 |
-6.3 |
