Recently, Sovcomflot (SCF Group) and Shell performed a landmark 150th marine LNG fuelling operation for SCF’s ‘Green Funnel’ Aframax tankers.
Since operations began in 2018, SCF’s ‘Green Funnel’ Aframaxes have taken over 62,000 tonnes of marine LNG fuel from Shell and all 150 operations were performed safely without incident, injury or loss of fuel.
The 150th operation was performed by Korolev Prospect, on time charter to Chevron, receiving 600 tonnes of marine LNG from Shell and delivered by Q-LNG 4000 outside Port Canaveral, Florida, whilst en route from Denmark to the US Gulf. Chevron is using the vessel to trial the viability of dual fuelled tankers for its future operations.
LNG fuel remains amongst the cleanest burning fuel options currently available for shipping operations. Sovcomflot calculates that since 2018, LNG fuel has helped reduce the total CO₂ emissions of these six ‘Green Funnel’ tankers by over 56,000 tonnes or by over 14 per cent annually on average.
Sergey Popravko, Chief Operating Officer of PAO Sovcomflot, commented: “We are delighted to have reached this 150th milestone together with our partners, Shell. LNG fuelling infrastructure expands as demonstrated by SCF and Shell with a number of firsts in North West Europe and the Baltics in 2018-2019, and more recently in the USA and Mediterranean, so we believe the business case for dual-fuelled tankers only increases further. We remain grateful to all involved ashore and at sea that all 150 marine LNG fuelling operations to date have been performed safely and securely, whether in ballast or laden condition or simultaneously with cargo operations. Ultimately, that is the real achievement.”
Tahir Faruqui, General Manager, Shell Global Downstream LNG, said: “The shipping sector must immediately employ the cleanest fuels available. Today LNG is the choice to ensure we are not adding heavier emitters into the global fleet while we work hard at developing zero-emissions fuels. I’m proud to share that since we fuelled the world’s first LNG-powered Aframax tanker, Sovcomflot’s Gagarin Prospect at the Port of Rotterdam in 2018, we have been able to complete many more operations safely through our expanded fleet of bunker vessels that can be deployed across nine countries and thirteen ports and look forward to expanding this further.”
PAO Sovcomflot (MOEX:FLOT) is one of the world's leading energy shipping companies, specialising in the transportation of crude oil, petroleum products, and liquefied gas, as well as the servicing of offshore oil and gas production. As of the date of this release, the Group’s fleet comprises 145 vessels with a total deadweight of over 12.6 million tonnes, including vessels owned through joint ventures. More than 80 vessels have an ice class.
SCF is involved in servicing large oil and gas projects in Russia and around the world: Sakhalin-1; Sakhalin-2; Varandey; Prirazlomnoye; Novy Port; Yamal LNG, and Tangguh (Indonesia). The Group is headquartered in St. Petersburg, with offices in Moscow, Novorossiysk, Murmansk, Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, London, Limassol, and Dubai.
The long-term strategy of SCF commits the Group to continuously reduce the carbon footprint of its fleet operations. Working on adopting LNG as a main fuel for large-capacity tankers, since 2015, SCF introduced a series of the world’s first LNG-fuelled Aframax tankers in 2018. Today, SCF has six such tankers in operation, with five more LNG-fuelled tankers of various sizes under construction.