(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 20 - The Golar Tundra storage and regasification ship at the Tuscan port of Piombino will become operational in mid-May, Snam Rete Gas managing director Massimo Derchi said during a press conference at the port on Monday.
    Testing at the offshore facility is due to begin following the first consignment of liquefied natural gas at the end of April.
    The Golar Tundra has been brought in as part of Italy's effort to reduce its reliance on Russian gas following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
    The ship, which arrived in Piombino from Singapore on Sunday evening, has the capacity to transform around five billion cubic metres of gas a year.
    It is due to remain at Piombino for three years.
    Meanwhile, Snam has said it is considering two possible new locations for the regasifier when the three years are up.
    "There are two possibilities, in the upper Tyrrhenian and in the upper Adriatic," Snam Fsru Italia CEO Elio Ruggeri told journalists.
    "We need to talk to both local and national institutions before we can officially present a new project," he added.
    The deadline for communicating the new offshore site has reportedly been extended to June 26. (ANSA).