Cepsa Launches LNG Bunkering Vessel
Spain's Cepsa has presented southern Europe's first multi-product bunkering vessel at the port of Huelva on March 22 where it will be based.
Oizmendi will provide bunkering of LNG, marine fuel oil and diesel. It has a load capacity of 600 m3 LNG, 479 metric tons (mt) diesel and 1,900 mt fuel oil. Early last month Oizmendi conducted an initial LNG bunkering ship-to-ship (STS) operation at Bilbao, the first such anywhere in Spain.
Cepsa has half of Spain's bunkering market and last year it provided more than 6,000 STS refuelling operations around the world. When Cepsa ordered the vessel in 2016, it said it would be stationed in Barcelona.
At a conference at Silleda in northwest Spain March 23, the top official in Spain’s energy and mines ministry Angel Bernardo Tahoces said: "LNG will be the transitional fuel for renewables, not only in the field of transport." He also said the government needs to determine what regulations are needed for bunkering vessels, and how to encourage LNG’s uptake in Spain’s major fishery fleet, noting: “We have to put all the means so that this project is a reality as soon as possible." (Banner credit: Oizmendi, courtesy of Basque energy agency EVE)