EMEA News
LR: LNG Bunker Demand Could Reach 24M Tonnes by 2025
Demand for LNG bunkers could reach 24 million tonnes by 2025, accounting for 1.5 percent of global LNG production, according to Douglas Raitt, Global Fuel Oil Bunkering Analysis and Advisory Service (Fobas) manager at Lloyd's Register Asia, industry news site Seatrade Global reports.
Speaking at last week's Fujairah Bunkering and Fuel Oil Forum, he said the projection, under a base case model created by Lloyd's Register, also means that LNG bunkers would amount to 3.2 percent of global heavy fuel oil (HFO) bunker consumption.
Between 2012 and 2025, 4.2 percent of global ship deliveries, totalling 653 newbuilds, would also run on liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The demand for LNG-fuelled ships is driven partly by International Maritime Organisation's reduction of the sulfur limit in marine fuels to 0.5 percent by 2020.
"LNG bunkering in short-sea shipping regionally could facilitate investments in deepsea routes," Raitt said.
"Solutions will be ship-type and trade-route specific.
"Existing oil bunkering hubs are well positioned to supply LNG bunker for ships, if demanded by owners."
In separate analyses last month, Reuters financial columnist John Kemp and LNG expert Mike Corkhill both predicted that LNG bunkering is poised for a breakthrough because of its attractive price relative to fuel oil and growing efforts to develop an LNG fuelling infrastructure.
