EMEA News
Experts Say Gibraltar LNG Bunkering Concerns from "Sabotaged" LR Report Can Be Solved With Proper Planning
In another chapter to the ongoing feud over the possibility of liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering in Gibraltar, health experts have said that any concerns brought up in a recent Lloyd's Register report "can be addressed," Gibraltar-based media reports.
The report had reportedly been privately commissioned by the Gibraltar Social Democrats party and the Spark group of companies, who are electricity suppliers in the country.
According to reports, Lloyd's Register had originally found that construction of a LNG terminal had "potentially intolerable risks" to the community, though the company has since said to have released clarification that its study was based on unique specifications provided to them.
"The Lloyd's Register study has not raised any issues that appear, at this stage, incapable of being addressed by suitable concept selection, detailed design and the use of international good practice standards and procedures," said the UK Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL).
The Gibraltar Government has also responded, claiming that the GSD and Spark fed misleading information to Lloyd's Register.
"The credibility of the Lloyd's Register report was sabotaged from the beginning by the very people who commissioned it," said Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.
Picardo added that the concerns brought up in the report are in line with the government's own experts on LNG, and confirm that with proper planning, risk from LNG can be mitigated.
"The information provided to Lloyd's Register by Spark appears to be totally different to the plans which are being assessed by the Government," he said.
The government has previously decried the GSD as being alarmist over LNG.
Meanwhile, the GSD has continued to call for transparency and assessments over the safety of any potential LNG construction.
Earlier this year, the Gibraltar government attempted to ease concerns by emphasizing the safety of bunkering LNG over diesel.
