Shell to double LNG bunkering fleet by 2025

Shell plans to "more than double" its LNG bunkering vessel fleet by 2025, the firm's executive vice-president Steve Hill said at the virtual CWC World LNG summit.

The firm has six LNG bunkering vessels already in operation or about to start service, Hill said.

LNG is set to sharply increase its share of the bunkering market in the coming years, also thanks to its global availability, he added. LNG is already available "in all major ports", and a widespread use as a marine fuel only requires "those last mile investments" to make it available for bunkering operations, he said.

While relatively small investments may be needed to complete the supply chain for LNG as a marine fuel, the economic downturn stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic may hamper demand growth by slowing investment decisions in building new LNG-fuelled ships or conversions of existing vessels.

Singapore-based Pavilion Energy's chief executive Frederic Barnaud admits he "was a little bit worried at the beginning of the pandemic" about the potential impact on investment decisions on new LNG-fuelled ships. But final investment decisions "have been made and are being made", he added.

The number of LNG-fuelled vessels has reached 211 at present, up from 194 at the end of 2019.

By Antonio Peciccia