Shell Charters LNG Bunkering Vessel in Spain
Anglo-Dutch Shell has chartered an LNG bunkering vessel being built in Spain to provide its customers with greater flexibility along key trade routes, it said on March 4.
Shell already has six LNG bunkering vessels in operation or about to start service before the latest deal, giving it the biggest LNG bunkering network in the world. It is looking to double this number by 2025.
The new vessel will be operated by Norway's Knutsen and use the Enagas LNG terminal in Barcelona for the loading and supply of LNG. It will have a 5,000-m3 LNG storage capacity.
LNG bunkering in Spain is growing quickly, with the number of refuelling operations soaring to 741 last year, versus 199 in 2019, according to Iberian gas association Gasnam. LNG bunkering in the Mediterranean is growing and so is LNG-bunkered shipping between Asia and Europe. The establishment of a Mediterranean emissions control area, currently under discussion at the International Maritime Organisation, is expected to expand LNG use in shipping further.
Shell has completed more than 400 ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operations, in seven countries and eight ports, including Rotterdam, Barcelona, Tenerife, La Spezia, Gothenberg and most recently Jacksonville, in the US. Shell is due to start bunkering in Singapore early this year and at Port Canaveral in Florida, the US, soon. It was also granted a licence to bunker LNG in January in Gibraltar, one of Europe's largest bunkering ports.
"Shell plans to double its existing LNG bunkering infrastructure on key international trade routes by the mid-2020s and this vessel will play an important role in that journey as we serve more customers across our global network with LNG," Tahir Faruqui, general manager at Shell Global Downstream LNG, commented. "In 2019 we completed the first LNG ship-to-ship bunkering in Barcelona and look forward to working with our partners in this project on the delivery of this vessel, demonstrating our ability and commitment to providing safe, reliable supplies to meet the growing need for cleaner-burning fuels."