Technical investments

Technical investments made by the Company in 2019 totalled €112 million, an increase of €13 million (approximately +13%) compared with the previous year and refer to the development of new fields and upgrading of capacity (€35 million) and maintenance and other investments (€77 million).

The main investments in the development of new fields and upgrading of capacity (€35 million) primarily concerned the following initiatives:

• Cortemaggiore (€19 million), for well drilling activities and for the upgrading of storage activities (peak services);
• Minerbio (€13 million), mainly for the completion of the activities related to the finalisation of the installation and start-up of the new TC7 compression unit;
• Sabbioncello (€1 million), for activities related to the installation of the new ESD system (Emergency Shut Down).

Investment proportions by type (% of total investments)

Maintenance and other investments (€77 million) mainly relate to the provision of materials for operations at the Cortemaggiore plants, including commissioning and start-up (€11 million), risk analysis of the wells (€4 million), security at the Minerbio plant (€3 million) and Sergnano plant (€1 million), as well as IT and property activities (€16 million in total).

Thanks to the significant investments made to develop new deposits and upgrade existing ones, Stogit exceeded the previous maximum quantity of gas deposits in its storage systems, thereby increasing its volume and peak capacity.

Total storage capacity as at 31 December 2019, including strategic storage, was 17.0 billion cubic metres (+0.1 billion cubic metres compared with 2018, made available by the gradual entry into operation of the new Bordolano deposit), of which 12.5 billion cubic metres related to available capacity fully allocated for the thermal year 2019-2020 and 4.5 billion cubic metres related to strategic storage (unchanged compared with thermal year 2018-2019, as established by the Ministry of Economic Development by means of the notice dated 8 January 2019)¹⁹.

Progress of work to obtain permits

To develop new settlements, in addition to the technical-economic feasibility criteria, Snam adopts procedures that respond to stringent environmental and safety compatibility assessments.

The assessments of environmental effects involve all phases of the work life cycle, site selection, planning, construction, operation and decommissioning. These assessments are made within the purview of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure and the procedures of the Integrated Environment Authority (AIA), at the end of which the central and local administrations issue the permits required under current law.