Page 12 - GLNG Week 28
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Cryopeak signs BC bunkering MoU
PIPELINES & TRANSPORT
BRITISH Columbia-based Cryopeak LNG Solu- tions announced this week that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with marine bulk fuels transporter Island Tug & Barge (ITB) to provide LNG bunkering services in the Canadian province.
Under the MoU, Cryopeak and ITB have developed a design for a 4,000 cubic metre artic- ulated tug and barge (ATB), which would enter service in 2023. e plan will leverage one of ITB’s tugs, designed and built in Vancouver, to deliver LNG as a fuel to shipping companies call- ing at ports on Canada’s West Coast.
e agreement comes as a growing number of companies and ports turn to LNG bunkering in an e ort to use cleaner marine fuels and reduce emissions from the shipping industry.
“ is initiative supports the Port of Vancou- ver in joining other leading ports globally in o ering LNG bunkering services,” Cryopeak’s CEO, Calum McClure, said in a July 15 state- ment. e company welcomed the project as “an important breakthrough” for the development of LNG bunkering in Western Canada. It expects
shipping companies to bene t from lower costs and a more environmentally sustainable fuel source as a result.
Cryopeak, a portfolio company of BP Energy Partners, is Canada’s leading distributor of onshore LNG, with a eet of 16 tankers oper- ating in the country, as well as equipment and technologies for storage, regasi cation and fuel dispensing. e company strategy involves being a vertically integrated and full-service provider of LNG to Western and Northern Canada, as well as Alaska, and it sees the bunkering venture as being in line with this.
e project marks another step forward on LNG bunkering for BC, which has been support- ing the development of the marine fuel. In Octo- ber 2019, the BC government teamed up with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and FortisBC to establish the rst ship-to-ship LNG bunkering service on the west coast of North America. As part of this partnership, the government agreed to help fund a study into the economic, environ- mental and social impacts of developing an LNG bunkering hub in the province.
Gas flows to US LNG terminals fall to new lows
PERFORMANCE
NATURAL gas ows to US liquefaction termi- nals fell to new lows in July, having already regis- tered a 20-month low in June as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to weigh on demand for the super-chilled fuel.
Last week, Re nitiv data showed that in the month so far up to July 8, pipeline gas ows to US LNG export terminals averaged 3.1bn cubic feet (87.8mn cubic metres) per day. is marked a drop from 4.1 bcf (116.1 mcm) per day in June, and a record high of 8.7 bcf (246.4 mcm) per day in February, according to the data.
e utilisation rate of the US’ LNG plants is estimated to have fallen from 85-90% in 2019 to just 32% in the rst week of July. is comes a er various buyers cancelled more cargoes due for loading at US terminals this summer than had been expected weeks ago. More than 70 cargoes have been estimated to have been can- celled for loading in June and July, and a further 40-45 cargoes due to be loaded in August are also thought to have been cancelled.
Re nitiv data also showed that in that rst week of July, only ve vessels had picked up cargoes from any of the six US LNG export terminals. Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG
and Sempra Energy’s Cameron LNG report- edly accounted for two cargoes each, while the remaining cargo was shipped from Dominion Energy’s Cove Point facility in Maryland.
Federal data show that the number of monthly cargoes of LNG being shipped from US terminals peaked at 74 in January, and had fallen to 57 in May – the latest month for which data are available. Re nitiv estimates that only 31 cargoes were exported in June.
Simmons Energy analysts have projected that US LNG utilisation rates will stay at around 60-70% over the next few years. New liquefac- tion capacity is still starting up, and this threat- ens to prolong the period of low utilisation.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 28 17•July•2020
