Snam: Europe’s Largest Gas Storage Operator 2026

Snam is Europe’s largest natural gas storage operator, with approximately 18 billion cubic metres (bcm) of total storage capacity following its March 2025 acquisition of Edison Stoccaggio — a transaction that added one new site and pushed Snam’s share of European underground storage to more than 17%. Headquartered in Milan and listed on the FTSE MIB index under ticker SRG, Snam reported €2.96 billion in Adjusted EBITDA and €1.42 billion in net income for full year 2025. In March 2026, the company published its 2026–2030 Strategic Plan committing €14 billion in investment across gas transport, snam gas storage upgrades, regasification expansion, the Ravenna CCS project, and the first phase of Italy’s national hydrogen backbone.

Snam Gas Storage: 12 Sites, 18 bcm, and the Edison Acquisition

Snam’s underground storage operations are run through its subsidiary Stogit, which manages 12 depleted-field storage sites across northern Italy: Brugherio, Bordolano, Cortemaggiore, Fiume Treste, Minerbio, Ripalta, Sabbioncello, Sergnano, Settala, Cellino, Collalto, and Cotignola. A thirteenth site at San Potito is also in the portfolio. The sites operate as seasonal and strategic buffers — injecting gas through summer, withdrawing through winter peak demand — and form the primary mechanism through which Italy manages supply security against import disruptions.

The Edison Stoccaggio acquisition, completed in March 2025 for approximately €565 million through Stogit, added one further site and approximately 1 bcm of working capacity including 4.5 bcm of strategic reserve capacity. At 18 bcm total, Snam now holds the largest snam gas storage position in Europe by a material margin. The 2026–2030 plan allocates €2.1 billion specifically to storage — upgrading existing site infrastructure, expanding injection and withdrawal rates, and beginning the assessment work for future hydrogen storage conversion. The overall storage investment envelope represents an increase on the €2 billion allocated in the previous 2025–2029 plan. For context on how European operators are managing the refill pressure bearing on the continent’s reserves, see our analysis of the EU gas storage refill crisis facing operators in 2026.

Transport Network and South-North Capacity Expansion

Snam’s transmission arm, Snam Rete Gas, operates more than 40,000 kilometres of gas pipeline across Italy and abroad, making it the backbone of Italy’s national gas supply system and a primary transit route for flows originating in North Africa, the Caspian region, and — increasingly — LNG imports. The network transported the equivalent of approximately 800 terawatt hours of energy in 2024, more than twice the volume carried on Italy’s electricity grid.

The 2026–2030 plan allocates €9.2 billion to gas transport — the largest single budget line — focused on strengthening the south-to-north capacity corridor that has become structurally more important since the post-2022 reduction in Russian pipeline flows. The Poggio Renatico upgrade is among the most significant individual projects, designed to increase transport capacity northward towards Austria from 8 bcm per year to 14 bcm per year. A dedicated Ravenna-Chieti pipeline, backed by a €200 million ESG-linked loan from Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, is being constructed with hydrogen-compatible specifications — its main line targeted for completion in 2026. This is the physical infrastructure enabling Italy’s strategic ambition to become Europe’s southern gas hub, a role tracked in detail by ENTSOG’s European transmission data.

Regasification: Panigaglia, OLT, and the Sardinia FSRU Bid

Snam holds regasification capacity of approximately 13.5 bcm per year on a pro-quota basis, operating primarily through the Panigaglia onshore LNG terminal in Liguria and a stake in OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, the FSRU moored off Livorno. The 2026–2030 plan allocates €1 billion to expand the Panigaglia terminal and consolidate the OLT position, extending Snam’s LNG import capability as Italy continues to diversify away from pipeline-dependent supply routes.

In Sardinia, Snam has made a move on Higas — the island’s LNG coastal storage operator based in Oristano — with the intention of acquiring 100% of the company and converting its existing LNG terminal facility into a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit. The HIGAS LNG terminal in Sardinia currently functions as a small-scale coastal storage and supply point for the island; under Snam’s plan, it would become a full regasification hub connecting Sardinia to the Italian mainland gas system. The project is consistent with Snam’s broader strategy of building LNG import optionality at multiple coastal points to reduce dependence on any single import route.

A subsidiary of Snam, dCarbonX, is also pursuing a £830 million (approximately $1.1 billion) gas storage project off the UK coast — the depleted Bains field in the East Irish Sea, targeting first injections in 2030 with 1.4 bcm of working capacity. The Bains project is being built with hydrogen-switchable specifications, consistent with the multi-molecule infrastructure philosophy running across Snam’s entire capital programme.

Snam Gas Storage and the Hydrogen Transition

Snam’s hydrogen strategy is built around the SoutH2 Corridor — a Projects of Common Interest (PCI)-listed hydrogen pipeline running from North Africa through Italy to southern Germany, connecting Snam’s networks with those of Austrian and German transmission operators. The Italian segment will span 2,300 kilometres, approximately 60% of which will be repurposed from existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure rather than built from scratch. The 2026–2030 plan allocates €200 million to begin development of the Italian hydrogen backbone — a reduction from the €380 million earmarked in the previous plan, reflecting a more measured pace of build-out ahead of confirmed hydrogen demand materialising.

On storage, the long-term hydrogen ambition is significant: Snam has identified up to 1.5 bcm of hydrogen storage capacity by the mid-2030s, drawing on both new site development and the reconversion of one existing gas field. The capital envelope for hydrogen storage through to 2035 is estimated at €3 billion. Underground hydrogen storage in depleted fields requires substantive engineering work — hydrogen molecules are smaller and more chemically reactive than methane, requiring integrity assessment, pressure-cycling tests, and compressor station upgrades before any conversion can be certified safe. Snam has flagged this as a multi-year validation process rather than a near-term operational commitment.

The Ravenna CCS project — budgeted at €800 million in the 2026–2030 plan — represents a parallel decarbonisation track, targeting carbon dioxide injection and storage in offshore depleted fields in the Adriatic. A final investment decision is expected by end of 2026, subject to regulatory framework clarity and revenue model confirmation. Snam’s broader role in European energy security and storage infrastructure is assessed alongside peer operators in our ranking of the top gas storage companies in Europe 2026.

Financial Position and 2026–2030 Plan

Full year 2025 revenue was approximately €3.88 billion, with Adjusted EBITDA of €2.96 billion and net income of €1.42 billion — results that reflected the stability of Snam’s predominantly regulated business model. The regulatory asset base (RAB) across transport, storage, and LNG underpins the predictability of returns: transport WACC for the 2025–2027 period is set at 5.5%, storage at 6.1%, and LNG at 6.2% under Italian energy regulator ARERA’s tariff framework.

The €14 billion 2026–2030 investment plan is the largest in Snam’s history, weighted heavily towards core regulated assets: €9.2 billion in transport, €2.1 billion in storage, and €1 billion in regasification together account for €12.3 billion. The remaining €1.7 billion covers CCS (€800 million for Ravenna), hydrogen development (€200 million), biomethane (€140 million), and other transition activities. More than 80% of the projected EBITDA growth from the plan comes from visible regulated business — a characteristic that underpins the investment grade ratings from both Moody’s and S&P that Snam targets to maintain.

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