TotalEnergies SE has expanded its liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering fleet to four vessels with a charter agreement with Spanish shipping company Ibaizabal Group.
The French energy major plans to deploy the vessel in Oman, where it has a bunkering-focused LNG production project with a planned capacity of one million metric tons a year. The vessel is being built by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp., and is expected to be delivered by the end of 2026.
“The vessel, owned by Ibaizabal, will supply LNG to a wide range of vessels (containerships, tankers, large cruise ships, ferries) at TotalEnergies’ LNG bunkering hubs and meet the highest technical and environmental standards”, TotalEnergies said in a press release.
It plans to operate the ship in the Persian Gulf, where it has a nearby liquefaction project in Oman. Earlier this year TotalEnergies and Oman National Oil Co. reached a positive final investment decision on the Marsa LNG project.
The co-venturers aim to put it into production by the first quarter of 2028. The liquefaction plant will rise in the port of Sohar in the country’s north. The feed gas will come from the Mabrouk North-East field on onshore Block 10, where TotalEnergies owns a stake. Block 10 started production January 2023.
Marsa LNG “is primarily intended to serve the marine fuel market (LNG bunkering) in the Gulf”, TotalEnergies said in a statement April 22 announcing the FID. “LNG quantities not sold as bunker fuel will be off-taken by TotalEnergies (80 percent) and OQ (20 percent)”.
“The Marsa LNG plant will be 100 percent electrically driven and supplied with solar power, positioning the site as one of the lowest GHG emissions intensity LNG plants ever built worldwide, with a GHG intensity below 3 kg CO2e/boe (for reference, the average emission intensity of LNG plants is around 35 kg CO2e/boe – this represents a reduction in emissions of more than 90 percent)”, it added.
So far TotalEnergies has deployed three LNG refueling ships, all owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. Brassavola is operating in the Port of Singapore, Gas Agility in the Port of Rotterdam and Gas Vitality in the Port of Marseille.
Louise Tricoire, TotalEnergies senior vice president for aviation and marine fuels, said about the agreement for the new Spanish vessel, “With new LNG-fueled vessels coming on stream at a rapid pace, we are committed to playing our part in responding to the sector’s increasing demand for this fuel which can help global shipping meet its decarbonization ambitions”.
TotalEnergies aims to increase the share of natural gas in its sales mix to nearly 50 percent by 2030.
Source: Jov Onsat, Rigzone
