LNG

Peninsula, the leading independent global supplier of marine fuel in the West Mediterranean and Gibraltar, has carried out a fuel operation on the LNG-powered car carrier “Thor Highway” in the port of Gibraltar.

The Society for Gas as a Marine Fuel (SGMF) has released its most detailed version yet of a publication of operational guidelines to enhance safety during the marine bunkering of LNG fuel.

The SGMF said this third revision of “LNG as a marine fuel - Safety and Operational Guidelines - Bunkering” is the most comprehensive coverage of all aspects related to LNG bunkering operations.

“The maritime industry is increasingly adopting LNG as the fuel of choice for newbuild vessels,” said the Society.

“Together with the environmental performance LNG use provides, this growing trend is also the result of the considerable expansion of the LNG bunkering supply infrastructure,” it added.

“Facilities are now well established in most parts of the world, and there are more operational LNG bunkering vessels serving the industry than ever before,” stated the SGMF.

In anticipation of this growth and beyond, the safe use of LNG as a marine fuel has been a priority issue for SGMF.

Insights

“The information contained in this publication is gold dust for anyone bunkering an LNG fuelled ship,” said the Chairman of the SGMF Samir Bailouni, who is also Chief Operating Officer of Qatari gas shipping line Nakilat.

“These practices and insights are collated from the best the industry has to offer, and I extend my thanks to our members for providing this invaluable information not only for the benefit of the industry, but for society as a whole,” stated Bailouni.

The first published version of the SGMF’s LNG bunkering guidelines was in 2014 and it has now been “significantly updated and revised for 2022”.

The SGMF said the guidelines are recommended by the society as a “must have” for anyone engaged with any aspect of LNG bunkering.

“The safety track record of LNG bunkering operations has been exceptional and SGMF has played a leading role in developing a ‘safety first’ approach to bunkering operations through its publications, work, and influence,” declared the SGMF.

The SGMF noted that among its membership organisations there were tens of LNG bunkering ships operating with hundreds of ships using LNG between them and with LNG bunkering occurrences now in their thousands.

The publication covers not only actual operations, but also the actions and activities leading up to that final stage, making the bunkering efficient and safe.

“The overall aim of this new publication is to ensure that gas-fuelled ships can be bunkered safely, reliably, efficiently, and in an environmentally responsible way,” said Mark Bell, General Manager of the SGMF.

“The industry now has a comprehensive portfolio of publications for LNG as a marine fuel and the Society will continue to update them with good, if not the best, practice the industry has to offer,” he added.

Avenir LNG’s dual-purpose bunkering and supply vessel the 7,500 cubic metres capacity “Avenir Aspiration” has again called at the Higas terminal located on the Italian island of Sardinia as the start of commercial operations progress.

The Higas facility is a small-scale LNG import, storage and distribution facility in the port of Oristano in Sardinia.

Avenir LNG holds 80 percent of the equity in Higas and is working with established local partners Gas & Heat and CPL Concordia who each hold a 10 percent stake in the facility.

The “Avenir Aspiration” discharged the cargo and has now departed and was heading for Spain, according to shipping data.

The Higas terminal includes a jetty capable of receiving LNG vessels up to 20,000 cubic metres of capacity, an unloading arm, six horizontal cryogenic holding tanks of 1,500 cubic metres capacity each, two LNG truck-loading bays and a natural gas power generation system.

It has already started the sales and distribution of LNG truckloads to a number of customers.

Avenir itself is a joint venture owned by London-based Stolt-Nielsen and partners Höegh LNG and Golar LNG Ltd. The company's activities include building a fleet of small-scale LNG carriers.

Charter

Avenir LNG at the end of December 2021 announced it would charter one of its small-scale LNG carriers to Shell after it is delivered from a Chinese shipyard in 2022.

Avenir said it had entered into a Time Charter Party (TCP) with Shell North America LLC for the “Avenir Achievement”, a newbuild with 20,000 cubic metres capacity.

The supply vessel is expected to be delivered to Avenir in the second quarter of 2022 and the time charter to Shell is expected to begin at the start of 2023 for a period of three years and with an option to extend for up to five years.

This charter, including options, increases Avenir’s overall vessel charter revenues backlog to $81.0 million as of December 2021.

Avenir noted that the small carrier is equipped with boil-off gas reliquefication and simultaneous operations (SIMOPs) capabilities, “making her the world’s largest, most efficient and versatile LNG bunkering vessel” available.

French major TotalEnergies and liquefied natural gas bunkering partner Mitsui OSK Lines of Japan said their first France-based LNG re-fuelling vessel built in China has completed sea and gas trials.

French energy companies have joined together for a project to use the waste from the trash cans and rubbish bins of Marseille and the surrounding area of the Mediterranean port to make bio-liquefied natural gas of sufficient quality to be used as fuel for shipping.

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.