Western Australia Trade Routes the "Perfect Place" to Drive Transition to LNG Bunkers, Says Woodside

Woodside says trade routes from northern Western Australia are the "perfect place" to drive the transition to LNG bunkers.

Woodside Energy Ltd. (Woodside) says trade routes from northern Western Australia are the "perfect place" to drive the transition to liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel.

The declaration comes alongside a development, previously reported by Ship & Bunker last week, which will see Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) work with BHP Billiton, DNV GL, Rio Tinto, Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute (SDARI), and Woodside on a joint study of the examination the technological and economic feasibility of a LNG-fuelled Capesize bulker.

Titled "Green Corridor," the joint research project is intended to reduce merchant vessels' NOX and SOX emissions in anticipation of tighter global emissions standards.

"As Australia's leading producer of LNG, Woodside is pleased to be working with the mining and shipping industries to explore the potential for LNG fuel use by bulk carriers on the 'Green Corridor' trade routes between Australia and China," said Peter Coleman, Woodside CEO.

"We think the trade routes from northern Western Australia are the perfect place to drive the transition to LNG as a marine fuel, with exporting industries in close proximity to world-class LNG supplies."

Woodside is noted to have recently taken delivery of Siem Thiima, a LNG-powered marine support vessel (MSV) that has been hailed Australia's first such LNG-propelled vessel.

"Following the successful introduction of this vessel into our operations, Woodside will assess the viability of further adoption of LNG-fuelling of our vessels. We commend DNV GL for leading this project," added Coleman.

Last April, 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."