Gazpromneft eyes LNG bunkering

Russian firm Gazpromneft Marine Bunker plans to build the first ice-class LNG bunkering vessels to refuel ships throughout ports in the Baltic Sea by the end of 2020.

The vessel will have a capacity of 5,800 m³ and be built at a shipyard in China's Jiangsu province in partnership with Singapore shipbuilder Keppel Offshore and Marine.

Parent company Gazpromneft, Gazprom Gas-Engine Fuel and the state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) signed a deal in September to develop an LNG fleet and the related infrastructure. The firms agreed to develop a regulatory framework to use LNG as a fuel in Russia and implement a joint roadmap for LNG bunkering.

USC will analyse the pre-existing resources for building and certify the LNG-powered vessels, while Gazpromneft Marine Bunker will assess what infrastructure will be needed for LNG bunkering. Coastal infrastructure will be built in the Vyborg district by 2021.

Also, Gazprom Gas-Engine Fuel will explore the possibility of transporting LNG by road using cryogenic tank containers under the "tanker-ship" scheme.

Gazpromneft plans to start producing low-sulphur fuel oil for use as a marine fuel ahead of the introduction of the International Maritime Organization's (IMO's) 0.5pc sulphur cap on marine fuels and then completely phase out fuel oil production by 2023.

There is currently only one other liquefaction facility in the Gulf of Finland, Russian independent producer Novatek's 660,000 t/yr Vysotsk LNG plant. But two Gazprom-owned projects, the 1.5mn t/yr Portovaya LNG plant and the 13mn t/yr Ust-Luga project, are expected to come on line by the end of this year and by 2023, respectively.

Loadings at Vysotsk have dropped in recent months, with the terminal exporting 625,000m³ of LNG in August, down from 945,000m³ in July and 1.15mn m³ in June. The facility could also start up a second train, with a capacity of 1.2mn t/yr, in late 2020 to early 2021, pending a final investment decision before the end of this year.