Singapore — State-owned Petronas aims to start commercial LNG bunkering operations at several facilities across Malaysia by mid-2019, in a move that reaffirms the company’s efforts to compete in a key growing segment and support Malaysia’s strategic intent of becoming a regional LNG bunkering hub.
Following the company’s first LNG bunkering operation at the Pengerang LNG terminal earlier this year, Petronas aims to start up commercial LNG bunkering by second half of 2019 from Melaka and Terengganu in peninsular Malaysia, and Labuan in Sabah.
“Dual-fueled LNG-based engines are expected to be the future solution,” the company said in its annual activity outlook released Wednesday. “In close collaboration with industry associations, programs are aligned to develop necessary infrastructures to support a swift and effective migration to LNG, as the cleaner option.”
The company’s first LNG bunkering was delivered aboard the Kairos, the world’s largest LNG bunker vessel with a capacity of 7,500 cu m, as the carrier made its way from the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in Ulsan, South Korea, to Europe, the company said in a statement last month.
Pengerang LNG’s bunkering, reload and small-scale capabilities position the facility, strategically located in the Singapore Strait, as a front runner to meet the changing landscape of the marine fuel market.
“We believe that small-scale LNG opportunities will increase from the utilization of alternative cleaner fuel such as LNG. The new regulation of 0.5% global sulfur cap to be imposed by the International Maritime Organization in January 2020 will make LNG the alternative fuel of choice for the shipping industry,” Petronas LNG chief executive officer Ezhar Yazid Jaafar said in November.
