Gazprom Neft to Launch LNG Bunkering in 2021
Russian oil company Gazprom Neft plans to commission its first LNG bunkering vessel in the second quarter of 2021, the head of the company’s marine bunkering division, Alexei Medvedev, said in a conference presentation on October 10.
“The LNG bunkering pilot ship has a cargo capacity of 5,800 m3. The timeframe for putting the ship into commercial operation is the second quarter of 2021,” Medvedev was quoted as saying by the Moscow-based Prime news agency.
Gazprom Neft already offers bunkering services at 37 ports worldwide but only using fuel oil and other crude-based fuels, with sales volumes reaching 2.92mn metric tons last year. With stricter IMO rules on shipping emissions due to come into force next January, the company is preparing to launch cleaner LNG bunkering as well.
Gazprom Neft intends to bring two more LNG fuelling vessels in operation within the next decade, Medvedev said.
“Experts' forecasts regarding the demand for LNG bunkering vary significantly, but are mainly in the range of 10 to 40mn mt of LNG/yr in the long term until 2030,” the executive said.
Gazprom Neft’s parent company Gazprom is also preparing a foray into LNG bunkering when it commissions its 1.5mn mt/yr Portovaya LNG plant on the Baltic Sea. It has plans to build two similar facilities on the Black Sea and in the Far East.