Singapore plans to license more LNG bunker suppliers

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) will launch a Request For Proposals (RFP) process in the coming weeks, to appoint additional LNG bunker suppliers as part of a plan to support the growing demand for LNG bunkers and increase the number of licensed LNG bunker suppliers in the country.

The number of licences that MPA issues has not been fixed and will depend on commercial demand.

Singapore already has two licensed LNG bunker suppliers Pavilion Gas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore's Pavilion Energy, and FueLNG, a joint venture between Shell and Singapore's Keppel Offshore and Marine. The MPA awarded the two licences in 2016, paving the way for Pavilion and FueLNG to begin supplying LNG to vessels in Singapore's port from 2017.

Singapore has carried out more than 270 truck-to-ship LNG bunkering operations to date and expects to begin offering ship-to-ship LNG bunkering services by the first quarter of 2021.

FueLNG's 7,500m³ FueLNG Bellina LNG bunker vessel is expected to arrive in Singapore by the end of this year and will provide ship-to-ship LNG bunkering services to several Shell-chartered tankers and to one of Hapag-Lloyd's container vessels, as part of its first contracts.

Pavilion expects to receive the 12,000m³ GTT Mark 3 Flex in early 2021 and will operate the vessel under a long-term charter contract with Mitsui OSK Lines (Mol). It will use the new vessel jointly with Total under a deal signed last year to deliver LNG bunkers to their customers. Pavilion in 2019 began supplying LNG as a bunker fuel to two dual-fuel harbour tugs owned by marine services provider PSA Marine.

The MPA's impending call for proposals follows the Energy Market Authority's RFP in early July to appoint two additional term LNG importers. The RFP closes on 9 November.

Shell and Pavilion are Singapore's current LNG term importers. They were appointed in 2017 through an RFP process with an exclusive licence to import up to 1mn t/yr of LNG and sell to downstream consumers over a three-year period ending in April 2021.

The new LNG importers will be able to sell regasified LNG to downstream gas consumers, together with Shell and Pavilion, on a non-exclusive basis. The target start date for the licences is 24 April.

By Camille Klass