Australia Bunkers 1st Ship with LNG

Small-scale producer and distributor Evol LNG has completed Australia’s first commercial LNG bunkering in Western Australia January 23, 2017 for Woodside and then followed it up with first LNG bunkering at Fremantle Port February 19.

Under an agreement with Woodside, Evol LNG refuelled the platform supply vessel, Siem Thiima, at King Bay Supply Base near Dampier, it said February 20.

“With growing demand for lower emission fuels over the past decade, we’ve seen the number of LNG‐fuelled ships in operation worldwide increase steadily from a handful to more than 75, with an additional 80 expected to be built in the next three years,” Evol LNG's business manager Nick Rea said.

Evol LNG refuelling Siem Thiima (Credit: Evol LNG)

He said that growth had largely been driven by International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulations and the introduction of emission control areas in Europe and North America.  In addition, China has introduced emission control areas around its three major ports. “Interest in LNG as a marine fuel is growing, especially since the IMO announced that it would introduce a global marine fuel sulphur limit of 0.5% from 2020,” he said.

As emission reduction efforts continued to become more important globally, including in Australia, the adoption of LNG as a low emission marine fuel was expected to increase accordingly.  “It’s certainly an offering we’d like to expand, particularly as truck‐to‐ship LNG bunkering can be achieved relatively inexpensively with existing logistics assets. If interest is there, Evol LNG will obtain licences from other major Australian and regional WA ports to conduct LNG bunkering operations, and look at investing in infrastructure to meet the market’s needs.” 

Evol LNG has its own 175 ton per day liquefaction plant in Kwinana, Western Australia, plus Australia’s largest fleet of LNG road tankers.

Woodside recently announced a joint initiative to foster use of LNG as a fuel for shipping iron ore and other bulk ores to China; when it made that announcement last month, it also said it would take delivery of the first LNG-fuelled marine support vessel in the southern hemisphere

Shardul Sharma