LNG

The UK Grain LNG import terminal, located about 45 miles southeast of London on the Medway River, is following other import facilities in Europe by planning to offer fuelling services for trucks.

Grain LNG, owned and operated by National Grid, has been in operation since 2005 and is following import terminals in Belgium, the Netherlands and France in seeking truck-fuelling business.

These new plans would see National Grid loading LNG from the storage tanks and on to road tankers for distributors to take to truck refuelling stations as well as to off-grid industrial and commercial users.

Jon Carlton, Director of UK LNG at National Grid, said: "Using LNG as a road fuel can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 30 percent and particulates by as much as 90 percent compared to diesel, and could help the UK significantly in meeting the carbon reduction target.

"With the financial advantages LNG has over other fossil fuels also becoming more widely recognised, it is forecast that demand for a tanker loading service will grow rapidly," Carlton said.

Grain LNG is ideally located close to the major ports and road networks in South East England and in close proximity to the proposed "Blue Corridor" routes, which are intended to support LNG-fuelled truck fleets across Europe.

National Grid said it had launched an open season to gauge market appetite for the new offering. Depending on when regulatory and planning approvals are given, services could be up and running late 2014 / early 2015.