TotalEnergies Charters Its First LNG-Powered VLCC

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Thursday February 24, 2022

Global energy producer TotalEnergies has chartered its first LNG-fuelled VLCC.

The company has taken on the VLCC Eagle Valence under a long-term chartering agreement from AET, it said in a statement on its website on Thursday. Another LNG-fuelled sister ship of the tanker is currently under construction and expected to be delivered in the second quarter of this year.

TotalEnergies has made large early strides into the alternative bunkers space with its work on LNG, and is currently the world's largest LNG bunker supplier because of its contract to supply French container line CMA CGM's giant gas-powered boxships.

"The Eagle Valence is the first of a broader program of six newbuilt tankers designed with LNG dual-fuel propulsion and the latest technologies to provide best-in-class levels of greenhouse gas emissions and performance," Luc Gillet, senior vice president for shipping at TotalEnergies, said in the statement.

"This first LNG-powered vessel is a key component of our strategy to reduce the emissions generated during the transportation of our product to our customers.

"We look forward to receiving five additional LNG-powered ships between 2022 and 2023.

"LNG as a marine fuel remains the best immediately available solution for reducing our shipping carbon footprint."