Page 8 - AsianOil Week 13 2021

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reduction targets. Speaking at the same event, was helping to position it as North America’s
FueLNG’s general manager, Saunak Rai, said first LNG cruise port. This comes as the cruis-
that a variety of fuel options would be required. ing industry remains shut down because of the
“Somewhere LNG makes sense because of its coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but there
global availability, because of the price, because are hopes that it could soon restart. And in the
of the safety standards … Somewhere we have meantime, Canaveral Port Authority Commis-
hydrogen, somewhere we have ammonia, some- sion’s chairman, Wayne Justice, described LNG
where we have methanol. And together this will as “the fuel of the future”.
make the global fuel mix,” he said. This was The Q-LNG 4000 is also the first LNG bun-
alluded to by Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser kering ATB to be launched anywhere in the US.
in an earnings call last week when he suggested Its launch comes as Shell pursues its ambition of
that the company would skip the development of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-
LNG capabilities altogether in order to build out sions by 2050 or sooner. The barge is intended to
its blue ammonia capabilities. complement Shell’s existing global network of six
Meanwhile, according to Fereidun Fesharaki, LNG bunker vessels.
chairman at FGE, in order for the 2050 emissions In Canada, meanwhile, LNG bunkering is
target to be met, demand for oil-based marine also gaining traction. In February, Cryopeak
fuel would need to peak by 2025, at which point, LNG Solutions confirmed that it was moving
there is scope for significant growth in LNG ahead with the launch of Canada’s first LNG
demand. FGE anticipates that LNG bunkering ATB. The vessel, which is due to enter service by
demand for non-LNG carriers will reach 15mn 2023, will offer LNG bunkering and small-scale
tpy by 2030, increasing to 27mn tpy by 2040. distribution in North America’s Pacific North-
The availability of LNG is likely to give it west. This comes after Cryopeak went out to
a head start on its competitors and as Qatar shipyards in Europe and Asia in December 2020
increases liquefaction from new phases of the in an effort to gather cost estimates for the con-
supergiant North Dome gas field, this will keep struction of the 4,000 cubic metre bunker barge.
growing, while efforts by Iran to develop its own Prior to that, in December, the Hamilton-Os-
gas export infrastructure may yet bear signifi- hawa Port Authority (HOPA) in Ontario, Can-
cant fruit. ada, announced an LNG bunkering operation
that was hailed as the first in the Great Lakes
North America region.
LNG bunkering is on the rise across North These piecemeal efforts offer a good illustra-
America, with various developments playing out tion of how LNG bunkering is being rolled out
recently in both the US and Canada. across the US. It is happening gradually, with
On March 19, Russia’s Sovcomflot and Royal individual ports driving progress as they receive
Dutch Shell marked the first ever ship-to-ship bunkering vessels and infrastructure.
bunkering operation using LNG for an Aframax Indeed, the HOPA noted in its December
tanker in the US. According to Sovcomflot’s announcement that the only LNG capacity
statement, its Gagarin Prospect vessel, which is at ports in Canada currently exists along the
on long-term charter to Shell, was en route from west coast in BC and the St Lawrence River
Corpus Christi to Europe. The ship received in Montreal and Quebec City. This is despite
1,075 cubic metres of marine LNG from the the fact that the role of LNG as a marine fuel is
Shell NA LNG-chartered Q-LNG 4000 outside being increasingly being talked up as compa-
the Port of Canaveral, Florida. nies and countries alike consider their options
The announcement came shortly after Port for decarbonising. As Cryopeak’s plans for the
Canaveral announced the arrival of the Q-LNG ATB illustrate, adopting LNG bunkering will
4000, saying that the articulated tug barge (ATB) take time. ™

The Sovcomflot-owned
Gagarin Prospect Aframax
was bunkered with LNG
by a Shell-chartered
vessel in Florida in
mid-March.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 13 01•April•2021