Storage of natural gas

The storage system makes it possible to compensate for the different requirements for gas supply and consumption: whilst supply has a substantially constant flow throughout the year, the demand for gas is concentrated mainly in the winter period. Storage also ensures that quantities of strategic gas are available to compensate for any lack of or reduction in non-EU supply or crises in the gas system.

17.0 bn m³

Total storage capacity

The storage business makes use of an integrated group of infrastructure comprising deposits, wells, gas treatment plants, compression plants and the operational dispatching system. Snam has nine storage concessions located in Lombardy (five), Emilia-Romagna (three) and Abruzzo (one). In 2015, the new Bordolano site came into operation gradually increasing the capacity offered to a total of 1,050 million SMC +10.5% compared with the end of 2018).

Stogit provides its storage services (peak modulation, uniform modulation, strategic, transporter balancing, mining, short-term allocation services and, from 2018, the new Fast Cycle¹⁵ service, to 90 operators based on the Storage Code approved by the Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment (hereinafter also ARERA).

In 2019 Snam took action to promote the replenishment of national storage facilities for the purpose of being able to manage seasonal peaks in demand. The replenishment level at the end of the injection campaign (October 2019) was 99%, in line with the European average.

The market oriented approach adopted in 2019 allowed the Company to increase the mix of customers owing a Storage contract (not only shippers serving end users but also traders who maximise revenues from buying and selling gas to the PSV - virtual trading point) as well as attracting major European players.

Thanks to the investments made to develop new deposits and upgrade existing ones, the total storage capacity at the end of 2019, on a like-for-like basis with strategic storage, reached 17.0 billion cubic metres (+0.1 billion cubic metres compared with 2018), following the Bordolano field gradually coming into operation.

A result that attests to Stogit’s ability to respond to both the needs of the national market as well as the contingent dynamics linked to international markets and policies, which can significantly modify demand by increasing the value of business with policies to support the security of supplies.