Klaipedos Nafta’s LNG reload station hits milestone

Lithuanian LNG terminal operator Klaipedos Nafta (KN) has completed the 10th operation of reloading LNG from a gas carrier to ground storage tanks.

KN said on Wednesday that the reloading operation was carried out at the LNG reloading station by the LNG transportation and bunkering ship Kairos that carried gas to the station from Klaipėda LNG terminal.

This is the third operation by Kairos in Klaipėda this year. Since the beginning of operation of the LNG reloading station in October 2017 gas carriers chartered by Shell and other companies were also moored at the KN berth.

It is worth noting that Klaipėda was also used to reload LNG to tank trucks. In 2018, tank trucks were loaded with 240 units of cargo or over 64,000 MWh of LNG which was transported to Lithuanian, Estonian, Latvian, and Polish clients.

KN CEO Mindaugas Jusius said, “International analysts forecast that 2019 will be the year of expansion of the small-scale LNG business. KN has been ready to start this year – we have all necessary tools in Klaipėda to supply the cleanest marine fossil fuel with minimum emission to the sea in all Baltic Sea ports.”

According to the forecast by Energias Market Research, the growth of the small-scale LNG market will triple by 2030 and will mainly focus on the markets of LNG-fuelled road transport, supply for consumers not connected to gas pipelines, and LNG as a marine fuel.

The latter will be particularly relevant across Europe because stricter global sulfur limit regulations in shipping will become effective next year, resulting in cleaner fuel to be used in ships.

As for other milestone operations, Klaipėda LNG terminal carried out the 20th small-scale LNG reloading operation in late January, and since early 2017 small-scale carriers reloaded almost 144,000 cubic meters of LNG, 47,200 cubic meters in 2018.