Vitol preps for move away from coal

Dutch trading house Vitol said April 6 that demand for LNG, natural gas and liquid petroleum gas will increase as economies move away from coal.

The company announced it has committed some $1bn toward renewable energy projects, but added it was supplementing that spend with investments in LNG and gas products.

Advertisement: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) NGC’s HSSE strategy is reflective and supportive of the organisational vision to become a leader in the global energy business. ngc.co.tt

“We anticipate that, in the medium term, demand for hydrocarbons such as LNG, natural gas and LPG will grow as economies move away from coal and other solid fuels,” CEO Russel Hardy said.

Hardy added that, until large-scale battery capacity is available in the power sector, gas-fired plants will be essential to offset the intermittent nature of solar and wind energy.

Entering the LNG market in 2006, Vitol said it traded an estimated 10mn mt of the super-cooled gas last year. As part of its $1bn in renewable investments to date, meanwhile, the company said it was keenly focused on biogas projects, mostly in the United States.

While crude oil continues to represent Vitol’s largest traded component, Hardy said the energy business is changing.

“We continue to believe that demand for oil will not peak for another decade, but nonetheless we must position our business for a lower emissions world,” he said. “This change cannot be made overnight, so we will steadily build our transitional and new energy offering and portfolio, serving our clients as their needs evolve.”