LNG

Spain and the national gas grid operator and LNG terminal owner Enagás have marked the successful first phase of a European Union-backed project to bring liquefied natural gas maritime fuel to the ports of the Iberian Peninsula.

Cartagena, the LNG import terminal in southeast Spain, has hosted the Mediterranean's first LNG bunkering operation with emissions offsets for a Swedish LNG-powered tanker.

Spanish energy company Repsol organised the fuelling of the Swedish-flagged “Fure Vinga” with 420 cubic metres of LNG.

The Repsol operation was in cooperation with the Port Authority of Cartagena and Enagás, operator of the Cartagena import terminal.

“The uniqueness of the operation is that this is the first time that Repsol, as a supplier of LNG, has guaranteed the compensation of the total CO2 emissions associated with the consumption of this LNG,” said the company.

The re-fuelled ship, the “Fure Vinga”, is owned by the shipping company Furetank Rederi, headquartered in Donsö in Sweden.

This chemical tanker had arrived in Cartagena from China and was scheduled to continue to its ultimate destination of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

“The operation, which lasted approximately four hours, was carried out using the Enagás facilities in the port of Cartagena,” said Repsol.

Repsol noted that its bunkering was the first supply of this kind by a multi-energy company with emissions compensation through the purchase of CO2 credits (VERs) in the Voluntary Carbon Market.

Repsol is also adding direct supply of LNG from the terminal in Cartagena to its network in Spain.

“With this operation that was the first of its kind after a recent change in the Spanish gas system regulation promoting this type of supply, Spanish ports are now able to compete with other European ports,” said Repsol.

The method previously mostly used by Repsol was supplying the bunkering fuel from LNG trucks on the quayside.

The company added that it was increasing its LNG fuel capabilities at the northwest Spanish ports of Bilbao and Santander.

Endesa, the largest power company in Spain and the second-largest natural gas operator, has launched a project to expand its port terminal in Los Barrios in the Port of Algeciras to capture the liquefied natural gas bunkering business around Cádiz and in the Strait of Gibraltar.

The Italian Ministry of Economic Development has given the floating LNG terminal, the “FSRU Toscana”, permission to offer small-scale LNG services from imported volumes.

The Ministry, in agreement with the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport and the Tuscany Region, issued the decree authorizing the FSRU company, OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, to start up break bulk operations by loading small-scale LNG vessels.

Offshore is controlled by Italian natural gas grid operator Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (Snam) and First Sentier Investors, who import volumes via the FSRU deployed off the Italian cities of Livorno and Pisa.

“This new activity adds an important piece to energy logistics, allowing us to complete the supply chain that permits the use of LNG as a sustainable fuel and capable of reducing polluting and climate-changing emissions in land and sea transport, as well as for industrial and civil uses in areas not served by the national transport network,” explained the company.

The OLT Offshore small-scale project will also allow the country to be competitive in one of the markets with the highest potential growth rate, as already demonstrated by the experiences of northern European countries.

“Spain, France, Belgium, Holland and Scandinavia have already had small-scale LNG services provided by their regasification terminals for years, allowing the loading of both tankers that supply service stations for LNG trucks and small LNG carriers that can directly serve other ships with dual-fuel or exclusively LNG engines,” added OLT Offshore.

The growth of LNG as a fuel also included the maritime market because of stricter regulations to reduce carbon-dioxide and other emissions brought in by the International Maritime Organization.

OLT Offshore noted that LNG use was already growing in the sector for roll-on-roll-off ferries, support vehicles for port activities and cruise ships as the Mediterranean was a closed sea and therefore particularly sensitive to environmental pollution.

The number of bunkering vessels for LNG is rising as well from six ships in 2019 to 21 vessels operating in Europe by the end of 2021.

The managing directors of OLT Offshore, Giovanni Giorgi and Maurizio Zangrandi, expressed satisfaction with the upcoming start of the break-bulk service.

“In recent years we have worked to maximize the use of the Terminal,” they said.

“The ‘FSRU Toscana’ has been working at 100 percent of its capacity for two years now, receiving LNG from almost all continents. The signing of the decree marks for us the beginning of a new challenge that we are ready to take up with enthusiasm, even in a difficult time like this,” stated the executives.

“The detailed design was developed in parallel with the authorization process and the necessary works can start by the end of 2020,” they added.

OLT Offshore said that according to its schedule the FSRU should be ready to start loading LNG onto small-scale carriers within 12 months.

The new Tuscany break-bulk service will be presented to potential users on October 29 at a gathering organized by grid operator Snam and aimed at gas market players.

French energy major Total and Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines have attended a naming ceremony in the Dutch port of Rotterdam for the “Gas Agility”, the world’s largest LNG bunkering vessel.

June 22 (LNGJ) –LNG supplier Nauticor, the Hamburg, Germany-based subsidiary of the Nordic energy company Gasum, has conducted the initial ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation for the newbuild cruise ship “Iona”. The bunkering operation was conducted by Gasum’s bunkering vessel “Kairos” at the German port of Bremerhaven. The operation was the first ever ship-to-ship LNG bunkering in Bremerhaven.

   The “Iona” is one of the world’s first LNG-fuelled cruise ships. The vessel is in the final outfitting phase at the German Meyer Werft shipyard. After the outfitting and sea trials have been completed, the vessel will join the fleet of P&O Cruises. The vessel is part of a series of vessels for the Carnival Corp. with their different brands.

Heerema Group, the Dutch marine offshore contractor and owner of the biggest and strongest semi-submersible crane ever built, the “Sleipnir”, said the vessel has received the world’s largest ever LNG bunkering load in the Port of Rotterdam.

Jan 17 (LNGJ) - Dutch shipping line Anthony Veder said its small-scale LNG carrier, the 7,500 cubic metres capacity “Coral Methane”, has successfully carried out its first liquefied natural gas bunkering operation on the world’s first LNG-powered cruise ship at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands. The “Coral Methane” fueled the “AIDAnova”, the newest ship from AIDA Cruises, which made history as the cruise industry’s first ship to be powered at sea and in port by LNG. “We believe LNG is today’s most sustainable marine fuel,” said Klaas Kerssemakers, Chief Operating Officer of Anthony Veder. “The delivery of ‘Coral Methane’ as an LNG bunker vessel, in partnership with Shell, underlines our dedication to LNG and marks the next step in our contribution to a sustainable supply chain,” added Kerssemakers.