Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 01 2023

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Additionally, it will be able to export the equiva- could be reduced by 4-8% by authorising re-ex-
lent of 200 bcf (5.7 bcm) per year via Vista Pacíf- ports in order to facilitate LNG shipments to
ico LNG, where work has yet to begin. Asia via ports on Mexico’s Pacific coast instead
The DOE had come under some pressure not of maintaining the status quo, in which gas is
to approve Sempra’s plan from environmental piped overland to LNG plants on the US Gulf
lobbyists opposed to projects that support fossil Coast (USGC) and then shipped to Asia via the
fuel extraction within the US. (The company is Panama Canal.
planning to pump gas from its US fields to the The lower emissions intensity of Sempra’s
ECA and Vista Pacífico LNG plants.) projects is “due to the shorter tanker route from
However, the department concluded dur- [western] Mexico to markets in Asia,” according
ing the approval process that carbon emissions to DOE documentation cited by Reuters. ™

PANAMA
Kanfer, CB Fenton aim to set up first LNG

bunkering services near Panama Canal

NORWAY’S Kanfer Shipping and CB Fenton, a
shipping agency affiliated with Chile’s Ultramar,
are making a bid to become the first providers of
LNG bunkering services on the Pacific side of
the Panama Canal.
Kanfer and CB Fenton explained in a joint
statement on December 21 that they had signed
a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on
setting up a hub for LNG bunkering and small-
scale LNG distribution in Panama. In the state-
ment, they reported that they were now looking
for a partner active in the LNG and/or commod-
ity trading arena to establish a joint venture and
move the project forward.
The parties hope to launch the project in
2025 or 2026, the statement said.
Once formed, this joint venture would be
able to buy LNG and trade it to marine operators
and gas-to-power (GTP) clients in the region
and then charter ships from Kanfer to make
deliveries. It would also be able to use either of
the 6,000-cubic metre bunkering and distribu-
tion vessels that Kanfer ordered from the Chi-
nese shipyard Taizhou Wuzhou Shipbuilding
in May 2022 as a floating storage unit (FSU) to
hold LNG.
The MoU calls for the Norwegian and Chil-
ean companies to conduct a feasibility study on
the installation of an FSU on the Pacific side of
the Panama Canal to serve as an LNG bunkering Kanfer and CB Fenton are hoping to set up an LNG bunkering service and
facility, the statement said. It noted that overall distribution hub on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal (Photo: CB Fenton)
demand for bunker fuel was reliably high in
this location, since more than 13,000 ships pass services in the region. Currently, there are no
through the canal each year and a significant LNG bunkering sites on either side of the canal,
number of these must wait before entering the and the nearest providers are in the US Gulf of
locks. More than 80% of all bunkering opera- Mexico and US East Coast regions.
tions in the vicinity of the canal occur on the The statement explained that Kanfer and CB
Pacific side, and the partners will assess their Fenton were proposing to use the FSU not only
ability to meet demand for LNG, it said. as a source of LNG for marine bunkering opera-
If the project goes forward, Kanfer and CB tions, but also for small-scale LNG distribution
Fenton will be the first to offer LNG bunkering in the region.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 01 04•January•2023