Japan’s Mol starts operating LPG-fuelled VLGC
Japanese shipping firm Mitsui OSK Line's (Mol) Singapore-based subsidiary Aramo Shipping started operating today a new LPG-fuelled LPG and ammonia carrier for domestic importer Gyxis.
The 87,119m³ very large gas carrier (VLGC) Aquamarine Progress 2 was built by Japanese shipbuilder Namura Shipbuilding at Namura's Imari shipyard in south Japan's Saga prefecture.
The vessel is equipped with a dual-fuel engine, which can burn LPG and conventional marine fuel. Mol expects use of LPG to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide emissions by 20pc and sulphur oxide and particulate matter emissions by 90pc compared with a heavy oil-dedicated vessel. The VLGC is also designed to be able to carry ammonia, eyeing potential demand growth for decarbonisation.
Japanese shipping firms and shipbuilders have boosted construction of LPG carriers that can also ship ammonia, as demand for the cleaner fuel is expected to increase in future. Japan plans to co-fire ammonia at coal-fired power plants to reduce CO2 emissions, while aiming to use ammonia as a hydrogen carrier.
Shipbuilders Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries each delivered a VLGC, which can carry LPG and liquefied ammonia. Mol, in partnership with shipbuilders Tsuneishi Shipbuilding and Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding, completed risk assessments to design a mid-size ammonia-fuelled ammonia and LPG carrier, targeting to finish construction by 2026.
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LPG World editorial: Clean cooking’s watershed moment?
LPG World editorial: Clean cooking’s watershed moment?
African clean cooking schemes could prove to be an early energy transition success story now that world leaders view them as environmental imperatives London, 16 May (Argus) — The $2.2bn in funding pledged for clean cooking programmes in Africa over the next five years, announced at the IEA's Clean Cooking Summit in Paris on 14 May, could be a "turning point", according to the agency's executive director Fatih Birol. Not only would this be true in terms of tackling what is a long-neglected problem. It is also true for the LPG industry, which has been extolling the benefits of a transition to LPG in sub-Saharan Africa for many years. Other than the dozen or so individual financial commitments made by governments and organisations, what resonated most from the event was just how achievable transitioning sub-Saharan Africa to cleaner fuels such as LPG actually is. Often the immediate reaction is to balk at the challenges — the lack of infrastructure, the lack of regulatory frameworks, the corruption, the cost of the LPG and equipment. Yet this was when it was looked at purely through the prism of the market. Now it is an environmental and social imperative. Many of the political leaders from Europe, Africa and the US that spoke noted that greenhouse emissions from cooking were comparable to the airline and shipping sectors, yet tackling the former is far less complex, less expensive and receives scant recognition in comparison with the latter two. "We can fix it now… it is not high-tech, it is low-tech," Norway's prime minister Jonas Gahr Store told delegates. Another often ignored part of the issue is how disproportionately women are affected by cooking with harmful solid biomass fuels — perhaps an underlying factor behind the many years of neglect at a national and international level. This is a gender issue, both Birol and Tanzania's first female president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, noted. The obvious health and social benefits from the transition to clean cooking will be most keenly felt by women and their children, who are at home breathing in the smoke from open fires. Several of the speakers, including African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina and World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus, even spoke of their own experience of growing up in a household with open fires, and the consequent unnecessary suffering their mothers in particular had to endure. LPG is not the only solution here — others mentioned included electric cookers, biogas, bioethanol and cleaner cooking stoves. And as a fossil fuel, it will ultimately be replaced at some stage by renewable alternatives. But it is the best solution right now for large parts of the region. "LPG is the most efficient in terms of its benefits and its ease of use," Togo's president Faure Gnassingbe said. LPG markets can develop in the region through subsidies and LPG price regulation to moderate volatility, while countries must also invest in domestic LPG production as well as import and distribution infrastructure, he said. Each country will be different, but it is "well within our reach", Gnassingbe added. From pledge to realisation The sub-Saharan African region and the LPG industry must now work with foreign governments, financial institutions and private-sector companies to ensure that the large sums pledged are invested in a pragmatic and fruitful way. The IEA will come back in a year's time to report on the progress of the various commitments made at the summit and will provide updates online in an effort to ensure progress and transparency, Birol said. There is reason for cautious hope. The feasibility of achieving the transition and the relatively low levels of foreign investment involved — and the huge opportunities for LPG companies that will emerge — could create the conditions for success of a kind that has so far eluded many other such ambitions. It would be a huge boon for the world to have one such success story to point to by 2030 in its long, hard struggle to transition to a cleaner energy future. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Japan’s Mol orders dual-fuel LPG, ammonia VLGCs
Japan’s Mol orders dual-fuel LPG, ammonia VLGCs
Tokyo, 16 May (Argus) — Japanese shipping firm Mitsui OSK Lines (Mol) has ordered two dual-fuel very large gas carriers (VLGCs) to deliver LPG and ammonia, with commissioning expected in 2026. Mol has reached a deal with TotalEnergies' shipping arm CSSA Chartering and Shipping Services to charter two 88,000m³ VLGCs to deliver LPG and ammonia, although the specific time period is undisclosed. The vessel will be built by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, which has developed an engine that can use LPG and fuel oil. Japan's LPG consumption totalled 11.8mn t in the 2023-24 fiscal year ending 31 March, down by 3.2pc from a year earlier, according to the Japan LP Gas Association. Japan's trade and industry ministry expects the downwards trend will be driven further by technology innovation of high efficiency equipment. But its expects ammonia demand as a fuel to increase to 3mn t/yr by 2030 and to 30mn t/yr by 2050. Japan has set a goal of a 20pc ammonia co-firing at domestic coal-fired power plants by 2030 and above 50pc by 2050 to achieve the country's 2050 decarbonisation goal. By Reina Maeda Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Australia’s IPL fertiliser sale process 'advanced'
Australia’s IPL fertiliser sale process 'advanced'
Singapore, 16 May (Argus) — Australian chemicals and fertilizer producer Incitec Pivot (IPL) said the sale of its fertilizer business, first proposed last year, is now in "advanced negotiations". The potential sale of Incitec Pivot Fertilizers (IPF) to Indonesian producer Pupuk Kalimantan Timur (PKT) is subject to agreeing and executing final binding transaction documents, although there is no certainty that any deal will be reached or that any sale will occur, IPL said its financial report for its October 2023-March 2024 half year on 16 May. While IPL considering the sale of its fertilizer unit first emerged in July 2023, it was unclear who the interested buyers were. PKT is a subsidiary of state-owned fertilizer group Pupuk Indonesia Holdings and has production capacity of 2.74mn t/yr of ammonia, 3.43mn t/yr of urea and 300,000 t/yr of NPKs. Should the deal eventuate, the Indonesian producer intends to continue supplying fertilizers to Australia, support the retention of IPF's workforce and grow IPF's business in Australia, PKT confirmed to IPL. IPL reported a 77pc year-on-year fall in its first-half earnings before interest and tax (ebit) to A$10mn ($6.7mn). This was mainly attributed to the closure of Gibson Island that was producing ammonia, urea, granular ammonium sulphate and diesel exhaust fluid AdBlue, as well as reduced manufacturing performance at Phosphate Hill in Queensland with a capacity of 1mn t/yr of DAP, MAP and specialty products. But its distribution business was supported by firm demand and a well-managed fertilizer supply chain with its first-half ebit more than doubling from a year earlier to A$27mn, which partially offset a weaker manufacturing performance. By Huijun Yao Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Rains hamper LPG distribution in south Brazil
Rains hamper LPG distribution in south Brazil
Sao Paulo, 14 May (Argus) — Torrential rain and flooding in southern Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state reduced LPG distribution by 7-10pc in the affected area during the first two weeks of May, according to local market participants. LPG distributor Copa Energia's operations at its Canoas city unit — responsible for 30pc of the state's supply — were expected to resume by mid-May. The heavy rains since late April left 100 people dead, a further 128 missing and around 164,000 displaced from their homes, according to the state's civil defence. LPG companies have been working to ensure supplies are maintained in the region, with some advancing salary benefits to support workers during the crisis, local participants say. Distribution began to normalise by 6 May after "the chaos and lack of information" over the 4-5 May weekend passed, an industry executive says. State-controlled Petrobras' 201,000 b/d Refap refinery was also affected, cutting LPG output, but the volume was not disclosed. Many LPG retailers are now able to receive supplies, but it is unknown how many distribution routes have been compromised, according to local industry. LPG stocks have been able to meet demand, preventing shortages, they say. Oil regulator ANP's measures to cut red tape and foster collaboration during a crisis has kept the market supplied, according to LPG association Sindigas chief executive Sergio Bandeira de Mello. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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