Swedegas to Invest in LNG Bunkering

Swedish gas grid operator Swedegas said July 3 it will invest in Gothenburg's first LNG bunkering facility which it expects to be fully operational in 2018.

It is being built in western Sweden at the quayside of Scandinavia’s largest port, where vessels can bunker LNG while loading or unloading. LNG will be brought to the facility using trailers or containers, which will unload at a discharge station. The LNG will then be distributed via a 450-metre vacuum-insulated cryogenic pipeline to the quays at the Energy Port.

Swedegas’s statement did not give the cost of the project, but said that the European Union has deemed it a project of common interest, entitling it to EU grants. These are typically for up to 50% of the project, but may be more.

“This investment marks the starting point for the gradual expansion of the facility, eventually supplying the transport sector and Swedish industry with liquefied gas. Regardless of the sector, it ultimately comes down to making the transition from oil-based products,” said the CEO of Swedegas, Johan Zettergren.

Gothenburg port authority CEO Magnus Karestedt added that the project would help his port as a “sustainable Scandinavian freight hub” as bio-LNG could also be offered to shipping. The use of any LNG as a fuel reduces emissions of sulphur, particulates and heavy metals to a minimum, nitrogen oxide emissions by 80%, and carbon dioxide emissions by 25% said both companies.

Swedegas, which owns the gas transmission grid from Dragor in Denmark to Stenungsund in Sweden, has been 50-50% owned by Spanish gas grid Enagas and its Belgian counterpart Fluxys since 2015. Both owners have already invested in LNG bunkering in their home countries.

Mark Smedley