Pricing key to developing LNG bunkering infrastructure

Lloyd’s Register has released ‘LNG fuelled deep-sea shipping – Outlook for LNG bunker and fuelled newbuilding demand up to 2025’, a study it undertook to better understand the future demand for LNG as a fuel and to help refine and deliver its innovative portfolio of gas-technology services.

The study found that widespread adoption of LNG-as-fuel will be driven by price, the growth of alternative fuels and the degree of global collaboration. Its base-case scenario predicted that, by 2025, there could be 653 deep-sea, LNG-fuelled ships in service, consuming 24 million tpy of LNG. These ships are most likely to be containerships, cruise vessels or oil tankers.

When the study modelled relatively cheap LNG, for example, priced at 25% lower than current market prices, the projected number of LNG-fuelled ships tripled to approximately 1960 units in 2025. If the cost of LNG increased 25% against current prices, hardly any new LNG-powered tonnage was projected to hit the water. 

“Despite the excitement [about LNG as fuel], there has yet to be an order for deep-sea, large-engined, LNG-fuelled ships,” said Hector Sewell, Head of Marine Business Development for Lloyd’s Register.

 “The most likely first movers could be the big containership operators who are able to bunker at two ports at either end of a liner trade route, such as in Rotterdam and Singapore or Shanghai. This might take years. Or it may happen tomorrow.”

A copy of LNG fuelled deep-sea shipping – Outlook for LNG bunker and fuelled newbuilding demand up to 2025 can be found here: www.lr.org/bunkering.

Adapted from press release by Peter Farrell.

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/lng-shipping/09102012/lng-bunkering-is-reliant-on-pricing-to-take-off/