(San Donato / Italy) – The Italian gas transmission system operator Snam SpA is acquiring a stake in the Essen-based transmission system operator Open Grid Europe GmbH (OGE). Snam is acquiring a 24,99 percent shareholding in Vier Gas Holding S.à rl (VGH) for 920 million euros from asset manager Infinity Investments Holdings Ltd., an investment vehicle of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA, Dubai).
Snam is rolling out the European pipeline market: The strategic plan, last updated at the end of January, sees the company taking a leading role in the construction and operation of a hydrogen energy system across the continent. © Snam SpA
VGH is a Luxembourg-based company that indirectly holds the entire share capital of Open Grid Europe, one of Germany's largest gas transmission operators with approximately 12.000 kilometers of pipelines, a throughput of approximately 21 billion cubic meters per year, and more than 400 end customers. The transaction is expected to close by the third quarter of 2025 and is subject to the usual fulfillment of certain legal conditions precedent.
At the same time, Snam entered into a share purchase agreement with the Belgian gas transmission operator Fluxys – a current shareholder in VGH with approximately 24,11 percent – under which Snam will sell a stake of approximately 0,5 percent of VGH's share capital to Fluxys, so that Snam and Fluxys will hold a substantially equal share in VGH after completion of the transaction.
With this transaction, Snam reaches more than 40.000 kilometers of managed pipelines, making it a key player in the future hydrogen core networks in Germany and Europe. "Upon completion of this acquisition, Snam will be the first Italian company to enter the German energy infrastructure sector on this scale," says Snam CEO Stefano Venier.
Fluxys and Snam are already partners in several projects:
- Interconnectors, a bidirectional gas pipeline between Great Britain and Belgium with a commercial base in London and physical connections at the British gas terminal Bacton and in Zeebrugge, Belgium (shares: Fluxys 76,32 percent, Snam 23,68 percent);
- Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), an 878-kilometer-long network as the European part of the 3.500-kilometer-long Southern Gas Corridor, through which natural gas flows from Azerbaijan via Greece, Turkey and Albania to the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy (in addition to Fluxys and Snam, Enagás, Axpo, BP UK and Socar, Azerbaijan, are involved with varying shares);
- Desfa, operator of the Greek natural gas network and marketer of the gas capacities of the LNG terminal on the uninhabited Greek island of Revithoussa (the Greek state holds a 34 percent stake and Senfluga SA, a consortium consisting of Fluxys, Snam, Enagás and Damco Energy, holds a 66 percent stake).
Snam and OGE are also involved in the SoutH2Corridor, the pipeline that will one day bring green hydrogen from Africa to Europe. © Snam SpA
OGE's network is the heart of the European gas infrastructure, with 17 interconnectors to seven neighboring countries, including Belgium and Switzerland, Snam's Austrian subsidiaries GCA and TAG, and Italy via the Tarvisio entry point. The facilities play a key role in the German gas market and for the German hydrogen core network. Snam and OGE are also currently developing, among other projects, the hydrogen corridor from Africa via Italy to Northern Europe (SouthH2Corridor).
The Southeast European Hydrogen Corridor (SEEHyC) stretches from Germany to Greece and has several connections to neighboring hydrogen networks. © NET4Gas, sro
OEG is also involved in the development of the hydrogen backbone from the Iberian Peninsula to Northwest Europe (H2med) and the Southeast European Hydrogen Corridor (SEEHyC), which will eventually stretch from Germany to Greece and have multiple connections to neighboring hydrogen networks. The Southeast European Hydrogen Corridor consortium includes the gas transmission system operators Desfa (Greece), Bulgartransgaz (Bulgaria), Societatea Naţională de Transport Gaze Naturale Transgaz SA (Romania), FGSZ (Hungary), Ersterem AS (Slovak Republic), NET4Gas (Czech Republic), and OGE (Germany).
Photo above
At the LNG terminal in Panigaglia owned by Snam FSRU Italia Srl (until March 1, GNL Italia SpA), liquefied natural gas is regasified and fed into the pipeline network. © Snam SpA
