EMEA News
Gibraltar: LNG Bunkering Plans Will Not Advance Until COMAH Investigations are Successfully Completed
Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar (HMGoG) has responded to a call for clarification by a Gibraltar community environmental group on it's plans for liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering.
The call followed news last month that HMGoG and the Gibraltar Port Authority (GPA) have signed a bunker market development agreement with energy major Shell.
The group, known as Environmental Safety Group (ESG), said it had been told its previously raised issues with LNG bunkering were largely the remit of another level of required certification, the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH), and was assured that the details of the assessment would be made available once the investigation had concluded.
"However, with these results still not available, the public now learns that the LNG project is poised to expand even further, with the prospect of bunkering. This is a great concern to the ESG, and no doubt to many residents," said the group.
Last week HMGoG responded that "ESG are aware that for some time, the Government and Shell have been considering the possibility of LNG bunkering via an LNG barge.
"However, the Government of Gibraltar can guarantee that these plans will not advance until the COMAH investigations are successfully completed."
HMGoG also issued reassurance that, contrary to the ESG's statement suggesting otherwise, there are currently no plans for an onshore LNG bunkering facility.
However, the government did go on to note that to rule out the possibility of onshore LNG bunkering "would be irresponsible to future generations," as HMGoG views LNG as "the fuel of the future."
