EMEA News
Barents NaturGass Opens Norway's Largest LNG Bunkering Facility
Barents NaturGass AS (Barents NaturGass) today announced the opening of Norway's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering facility, located at Polarbase in Hammerfest.
As Ship & Bunker has previously reported, the facility has a 1250 cubic metres (cbm) storage capacity, with maximum 90 tonne per hour transfer rate and 24/7 availability.
"This bunkering facility allows easy and efficient access to LNG - a fuel with very good environmental characteristics - for vessels in traffic along the Norwegian coast, in the Barents Sea or through the Northern Sea route," said Barents NaturGass.
The facility was opened in a ceremony today by Norway's Oil and Energy Minister, Terje Søviknes.
"The shipping sector has called for bunkering infrastructure to make the transition to LNG fuelled vessels. With our new facility in Hammerfest, Barents NaturGass meets such a need," said Gudrun B. Rollefsen, Managing Director of Barents NaturGass.
Barents NaturGass says the facility's expansion enables the company to bunker 1000 cbm of LNG in one operation.
The company is noted to operate another two LNG bunkering facilities in Nordland, as well as other facilities further south, providing LNG along the Norwegian coast.
"We believe LNG will be increasingly important as the low-emission fuel for ships in the future. Battery operation may be useful for very short and defined ferry routes, but for vessels that sail over slightly longer distances, LNG is still the best solution, probably in combination with bio-LNG," said Rollefsen.
