Rule Change to Allow Russian LNG Bunkering Proposed

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday June 23, 2014

Russian rules on liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage should be revised to allow for the development of LNG bunkering facilities, an engineer with the Krylov State Research Centre said, according to industry news site Port News IAA.

Anton Lutskevich, of the research group's Arctic Engineering Centre, said current safety regulations use outdated Soviet-era standards, including an "exclusion zone" of at least 200 metres from a body of water and up to 500 metres from the nearest facility.

Lutskevich said such a buffer zone would be too large for a modern LNG bunkering terminal.

"Such zones are much smaller in other countries," he said.

Some have suggested the development of LNG bunkering facilities at Russian ports on the Gulf of Finland and at the entry to the Caspian and Black Seas.