Asia/Pacific News
Agreement Inked for First LNG-Bunker Powered MSV in Australia
Woodside Energy Ltd. (Woodside) Tuesday announced that it has signed a five-year charter contract, set to start in 2017, with Siem Offshore Australia Pty Ltd (Siem) for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered marine support vessel (MSV) - said to be Australia's first such LNG-propelled vessel.
Woodside says that, in addition to providing safe and reliable support to Woodside's assets in the Exmouth and Pilbara regions, its new vessel will reduce its reliance on imported diesel as well as reduce the company's emissions.
"We're thrilled to be the first company to bring one of these vessels to the southern hemisphere. Australia is on track to become the world's largest producer of LNG, so it makes perfect sense to build dual-fuel capabilities for our marine fleets here," said Mike Utsler, Woodside's Chief Operations Officer.
"Our LNG tankers use their cargo to power their engines, making them cleaner vessels that use less diesel. It's natural that we progress this capability through to our support vessels."
Woodside, noting that it believes that dual-fuel has an "exciting future" in providing power to a wide range of vessels, says it will continue to work for the expansion of LNG-fueling in transportation in Western Australia.
Earlier this month, Ship & Bunker reported that, despite International Energy Agency (IEA) predictions that Australia will become one of the world's top exporters of LNG by 2020, Banu Kannu, a regional marketing general manager at Wärtsilä Corporation (Wärtsilä), said the chances that the country will utilise the energy source as bunker fuel is "still a way off."
