LNG Bunkering to Reach 20mn mt by 2030: Total

LNG demand from marine bunkering is expected to rise to 10mn metric tons (mt)/year by 2025 and to 20mn mt/yr by 2030, according to Xavier Pfeuty, LNG Bunkering General Manager for French oil and gas company Total. At this level, LNG will account for around 5-10% of the global market for marine fuels, which is currently between 250-300mn mt, Pfeuty added. Pfeuty was speaking at the CWC World LNG Summit being held in Rome December 6.

Pfeuty said that, with some exceptions, container shipping had been slow to adopt LNG as a fuel, but this was changing as ship owners build bigger ships to compete on transportation costs. The IMO 2020 fuel regulation, due to come into force from January 1, has been more of a retrofit challenge, Pfeuty said, where LNG is not usually an economic option.

However, he said, where ship owners have the opportunity to build new ships, they were opting for LNG, pointing to recent orders for LNG powered oil tankers. The reason for this was the need to meet not just IMO 2020, but also higher efficiency standards. These are targeted towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions, while IMO 2020 targets sulphur oxide emissions.

He also noted that even when higher capex costs of 15-25% for LNG fueled vessels and the investment costs required for bunkering infrastructure were taken into account, at today's prices LNG was the most economic shipping fuel available.

Total, CMA CGM ink bunkering deal

Total and fleet operator CMA CGM signed an agreement for the supply of 270,000 t/yr of LNG over 10 years. This will cover the supply at Marseille-Fos of CMA CGM's future 15,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units container ships which will operate between Asia and the Mediterranean. The new ships are scheduled for delivery starting in 2021.

Total will position an LNG bunkering vessel at the port of Marseille-Fos and a corresponding one in Singapore. This new infrastructure is expected to expand the use of LNG as a marine fuel, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea.