Osaka Gas plans ship-to-ship LNG bunkering addition to substantial imports from broad-based supplies
Osaka Gas, the Japanese utility and leading liquefied natural gas importer, plans to launch the company’s first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering business for customers in the Osaka Bay and the Seto Inland Sea areas of Japan.
The operations will be led by a specialized LNG bunkering vessel from fiscal 2026.
“This commercial undertaking will see Osaka Gas supplying fuel to LNG-powered ships using stocks taken from Osaka Gas import terminals” said the company, a unit of the Daigas Group.
The Osaka Gas import facilities, which additionally offer truck-loading for fuel users, include the Himeji terminal with eight storage tanks with a combined 740,000 cubic metres of capacity.
The utility’s biggest terminal is the Senboku II facility with 1.43 million cubic metres of capacity in 16 storage tanks.
The Osaka Gas global LNG supply portfolio includes cargoes from the US Freeport plant in Quintana Island in Texas, Oman LNG and from the Chevron-operated Gorgon export plant in Western Australia.
It also has Australian offtake from the Woodside-operated North West Shelf plant and the Darwin plant in the Northern Territory.
Its other main suppliers include Papua New Guinea LNG and the Russian Far East plant on Sakhalin Island.
Partners
The company said that the bunkering vessel construction would be led by Osaka Bay LNG Shipping Co., a company jointly established by Osaka Gas International Transport, NS United Coastal Tanker Kaisha Ltd. (NSUT) and Kobe-Osaka International Port Corp.
Under the agreements, Osaka Bay LNG Shipping would own the LNG bunkering vessel to be constructed under the government’s subsidy programme for clean energy and NSUT, an established LNG coastal vessel operator, will manage and operate the vessel.
Osaka Gas said that HPC would promote the business and LNG bunkering across the shipping industry in Japan in cooperation with the relevant government agencies.
The utility company said it was broadening its business to benefit from the increasing number of LNG-powered vessels expected to come into operation due to the global trend for cleaner marine fuel.
“The Daigas Group intends to expand the LNG bunkering business and achieve the commercialization of e-methane and its application to bunkering,” Osaka Gas added.
