LNG

March 4 (LNGJ) - Gasum, Finland’s state-owned supplier to the Nordic region of LNG and biogas made from waste, has expanded its LNG, compressed natural gas and biogas filling stations network in Sweden. Gasum’s partner in the build-out is logistics company Centralen combining 70 transporters with a combined fleet of 220 heavy-duty vehicles.

   Gasum said it opened a station at Vänersborg, taking the Swedish gas fuel network for trucks and cars to 23 in total. “The new station in Vänersborg is at a traffic hub on the European route E45 connecting both to the E6 in the west and the E20 in the east. This means that the new station greatly improves the connectivity between the inland and west coast traffic routes to Norway,” said Sharareh Edström, Director of Traffic Sweden at Gasum.

Gasnor, the LNG and gas operator formerly owned by Royal Dutch Shell and sold to Molgas Energy Holdings, said it signed an agreement with German oil and gas company Wintershall Dea to supply LNG fuel to vessels serving exploration and production platforms on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

The first ship to receive LNG fuel will be the offshore supply vessel (OSV) “Viking Princess” and the fuelling will take place at the bunkering terminal at Mongstad Base, one of Norway’s main supply sites serving 23 fixed offshore installations and on average 3-6 rig operations annually in the northern North Sea.

The 90-metres long and 21m wide vessel “Viking Princess” is powered by dual-fuel engines that can use both MGO (Marine Gasoil) and LNG and also has a battery pack for further energy management.

“When using LNG-powered supply vessels, the emissions associated with the offshore supply services will be reduced by around 30 percent,” said Gasnor.

Gasnor’s sale to Madrid-based Molgas Energy by Shell was completed in April 2021. The value of that transaction was never disclosed.

Gasnor is now a well-established downstream LNG company with small-scale LNG production facilities and headquartered in Avaldsnes in Norway.

Shell had owned the firm since 2012 and one of its notable projects was to construct the LNG import facilities for the British overseas territory of Gibraltar when it turned to gas-fired power.

Spain’s Molgas like Gasnor has pioneered the development of the small-scale LNG business in Europe.

Gasnor and Molgas plan to expand their LNG bunkering and clean fuel activities.

Molgas provides integrated LNG services to more than 100 off-grid industrial customers, owns and operates LNG filling stations for heavy-duty trucks and provides bunkering infrastructure at ports in Spain.

Molgas itself is majority owned by InfraVia, a Paris-based private equity firm, specializing in infrastructure and technology investments.

July 3 (LNGJ) - Finnish state-owned energy company Gasum, which has widespread gas assets in the Nordic region, has opened a new filling station for LNG and biogas distribution at Lieto in southwest Finland. This is the country’s eighth natural gas filling station for trucks.

   Gasum has another 15 LNG and biogas stations in Sweden and one in Norway located in the capital Oslo. “Together with the gas filling station in Turku Harbor, the new station in Lieto strengthens the distribution of LNG and liquefied biogas for the needs of long-haul transport,” said Gasum.

As the adoption of LNG as a ship fuel continues to speed up, European maritime classification society DNV GL plans to commercially launch in April 2020 a new online bunkering platform to take operators from the order process through to delivery.