Kanfer eyes FID on Egypt LNG bunkering facility in 1H23

Norwegian firm Kanfer Shipping plans to take a final investment decision (FID) on a planned LNG bunkering facility at the Suez Canal in Egypt in the first half of this year, Kanfer Shipping managing director Stig Hagen told Argus.

The firm aims to bring the bunkering facility on line in mid-2025, Hagen said. Kanfer is eyeing a bunkering vessel with capacity of 6,000m³, and had placed an order with a Chinese shipyard last year to build the bunkering vessel. Construction of the vessel will be likely to begin once the firm has reached an FID on the project.

The FID would follow Kanfer and Egypt's Egas reaching a preliminary agreement in July to operate an LNG bunkering vessel in the Suez Canal. Kanfer since has brought in an unnamed Swiss trading firm on the project as partner.

Egypt's existing LNG production facilities provide a "capacity opportunity" for an LNG bunkering project at the Suez Canal, Hagen said. Egypt has two LNG production facilities, the 7.2mn t/yr Idku and 5.5mn t/yr Damietta liquefaction terminals. The close proximity of Egypt's export terminals to the Suez Canal also means there is no need for additional LNG storage capacity at the Suez Canal to assist with bunkering operations, he added.

Kanfer also has preliminary plans to build LNG bunkering infrastructure in the Panama Canal, having signed an initial agreement to explore LNG bunkering around the canal with Panama's CB Fenton in December.

By Ellie Holbrook