LNG Bunker Advocacy Group SEA\LNG Adds Three New Members

SEA/LNG Logo. Image Credit: SEA/LNG

Multi-sector LNG Bunker advocacy group SEA\LNG today announced the addition of three new members to its coalition - Mitsui & Co., Ltd., NOVATEK Gas & Power, and Sumitomo Corporation.

"We are pleased to welcome NOVATEK, Mitsui, and Sumitomo to our growing coalition. Each of the global organisations brings with them a wealth of knowledge and experience that will be invaluable to SEA\LNG as we work to realise our goal of making LNG an important maritime fuel," said SEA\LNG chairman and executive vice president, Tote, Peter Keller.

"Our aim since inception was to form a coalition that unites key players from across the entire LNG value chain, and the addition of our three new members further strengthens our organisation."

Mitsui & Co., Ltd. is a Japanese trading, investment, and service enterprise, serving several business areas.

Kenichiro Yamaguchi, General Manager of Gas Business Development Division at Mitsui & Co., Ltd., said the company "is well positioned to affect change within the entire value chain."

"We look forward to leveraging our company's position to work with our fellow members towards promoting sustainable LNG bunkering operations."

NOVATEK is one of the largest independent natural gas producers in Russia.

Leonid Mikhelson, Chairman of the company's Management Board, said: "The recent adoption of stricter emission standards for marine transportation by 2020 is consistent with our strategy for entering into new prospective LNG market segments including bunkering. Global environmental requirements create the basis for transiting the global fleet towards cleaner types of fuels. We are confident that more shipping companies will opt for LNG to meet these stricter requirements, and we are ready to facilitate the LNG bunkering market and infrastructure development."

Sumitomo, meanwhile, is one of Japan's largest trading firms said to have a strong heritage within bunker trading, and has also been involved in an LNG liquefaction project in the US, called "Cove Point LNG Project", as well as LNG trading and owning / operating of LNG carriers.