MILAN, April 4 (Reuters) - Energy storage group VTTI

will get a 70% stake in Italy's biggest liquefied natural gas

(LNG) terminal, with grid operator Snam owning the

rest, the Milan-listed group said late on Wednesday, announcing

a deal to be finalised by year-end.

Snam, which is controlled by the Italian government, said in

a statement it had exercised its pre-emption right to up its

stake in the terminal dubbed Adriatic LNG to 30% from 7.3%.

The move comes after ExxonMobil ( XOM ) and QatarEnergy last

week agreed to sell their stakes in the terminal to a consortium

led by Dutch group VTTI.

"This transaction is in line with and advances our strategy

to diversify our portfolio and enter into more transitional and

clean energy infrastructure," VTTI Head of Communications Julie

Lenzner said in an email on Thursday.

Adriatic LNG will be the first operational LNG asset in the

portfolio of the Dutch group, whose shareholders comprise global

commodity trader Vitol, Australian investment manager IFM and

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

"This operation strengthens Snam's presence in LNG

infrastructure, which is increasingly strategic for the security

and diversification of Italy's energy supplies," Snam CEO

Stefano Venier said, adding the group would support the

terminal's expansion projects.

Snam did not give financial details for the deal. Sources

had previously said the deal would value the entire terminal

around 800 million euros ($866 million) including debt.

REPLACING RUSSIAN GAS

The terminal is about 9 miles (15 km) off the Veneto

coastline and has a regasification capacity of 9 billion cubic

metres (bcm) of natural gas per year.

Europe has increased LNG imports after Russia's invasion of

Ukraine in 2022 drastically curtailed gas coming through

pipelines.

Snam holds stakes in all the remaining LNG terminals

currently operating in Italy for a total regasification capacity

of about 23 bcm.

The group will set up an additional floating LNG terminal

offshore the city of Ravenna at the beginning of next year,

increasing Italy's regasification capacity to 28 bcm, equal to

the gas Italy used to import from Russia via pipeline.

The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory

authorisations.

Earlier this year, Vitol also struck a deal with Italy's

Moratti family to buy Italian oil refiner Saras.

($1 = 0.9234 euros)