Kanfer Shipping, Nimofast agree to set up small-scale LNG supply along Brazilian coastline

Norwegian company Kanfer Shipping AS has signed a partnership deal with Nimofast Brasil S.A. to establish small and medium-scale LNG shipping, small-scale floating storage units (FSU) and LNG bunkering solutions in Brazil from 2025 onwards.

The contract will enable Nimofast to sell and deliver LNG of any volume via small and medium-scale LNG vessels at any location along the Brazilian coastline. The LNG vessels and LNG bunker ships will be loaded via the permanently based FSU at the Nimofast LNG import- and distribution terminal in the state of Paraná.

“We are very much looking forward to cooperating with Nimofast by using our patented technologies to improve both the availability and accessibility of LNG for the customers in Brazil as well as being cost-efficient. Kanfer’s innovative, small-scale solutions for sea transport, storage and bunkering create a virtual LNG pipeline, solving a critical gap in the LNG supply chain,” Stig Hagen, CEO at Kanfer Shipping said.

“We noticed that many clients in Brazil, either require relatively small volumes of LNG, or do not have suitable port infrastructure to build or to justify their own LNG import terminal,” Nimofast President Ramon Reis said.

“Via the partnership with Kanfer Shipping, we are able to offer and deliver LNG to any customer along the Brazilian coastline regardless the requested volumes or port draft limitations. We also see LNG bunkering as a growth market to meet environmental- and economic objectives by using LNG as a fuel in shipping”.

Nimofast Brasil S.A. is an LNG project development company which is fully licensed and authorized by The Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) to import LNG to Brazil.

Nimofast recently announced that it secured enough LNG offtake volumes to justify FID (Final Investment Decision) via supply contracts with GNLink, a company controlled by asset manager Lorinvest, and with energy trading company Migratio Gas. The terminal is expected to be operational in 2025.

Earlier this year, Kanfer Shipping joined forces with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and Leth Suez Transit (LETH) to establish a strategic LNG bunkering hub in the Suez Canal by 2025.

The companies have agreed to form a joint venture (JV) that will be chartering a bunkering ship from Kanfer and managing its daily operation in Egypt.

This entity will also purchase the LNG from EGAS and other LNG sources and trade them to ship owners and the maritime industry.

There are three sources for LNG in Egypt namely Damietta, the IDKU terminal and the FSRU stationed in Ain Sokhna that give flexibility and more opportunities for LNG bunkering in both Port Said and Suez.

Kanfer Shipping is also looking into the opportunities in bunkering ammonia. Last year, the Norwegian company signed a letter of intent with Australia’s Oceania Marine Energy to build an ammonia-ready LNG bunkering vessel.

The move is part of their strategy to develop a long-term zero-emission sustainable shipping industry in Australia using LNG as the transition fuel and move towards green ammonia and methanol as the targeted fuel for bunkering vessels operating in the Northwest and Eastern ports of Australia.

Kanfer already has two 6,000 cbm LNG bunker vessels under construction at Taizhou Yard which are scheduled for delivery by the second half of 2023. Under the terms of the contract, Kanfer has options to build two additional vessels of the same size.