Uchenna Izundu
International Editor
LONDON, June 18 -- BG Group PLC has filed suit against Italian authorities to prevent their challenging BG's Brindisi LNG regasification terminal permits that the national government authorized in 2003.
The conference of services—involving a debate by regional and provincial government officials—proposes to review the grounds on which BG received the permits. The key question is whether BG must conduct an environmental impact assessment for the terminal.
A company spokesman told OGJ it had already carried out an environmental impact survey, and there was no requirement under Article 8 of the authorization to perform an EIA. "We have full authorization from the national government for the project with the knowledge of the provincial and regional authorities," he said. "We have complied with all the procedures and the law to get the permits for Brindisi." He declined to say how long the court case would take. The government gave the go-ahead for the terminal in 2003.
The 5.8 million tonnes/year Brindisi terminal has been controversial within the local community on environmental grounds. Claims that the authorization process was flawed forced BG to revise the start-up date to 2010 from 2008.
Gas for Brindisi will come from Egyptian LNG Train 2.
Italian industry minister Pierluigi Bersani has indicated that he may make a decision next week on the Brindisi construction.
Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected]