Malaysian energy giant Petronas continues to expand its liquefied natural gas bunkering business and has completed the first LNG fueling operation in Sabah.
Petronas Marine completed the first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation some 12 nautical miles from Sandakan port, according to a statement by Petronas released on Friday.
The Petronas-chartered 7,500-cbm Avenir Advantage supplied the fuel to the 180,000-tonne LNG-powered vessel HL Green, it said. H-Line Shipping owns the bulker while Posco charters it to transport iron ore between Korea and Australia.
Also, Petronas Marine joined forces with Petronas Energy & Gas Trading, Petronas Dagangan Berhad, as well as their external partner Sabah Ports to complete the operation.
Petronas says Sandakan port’s strategic position at the international maritime trade route between Australia and Asia’s manufacturing hubs such as Japan, South Korea and China, makes it an “ideal location” to provide LNG bunkering services.
To remind, a unit of Petronas started using the Avenir LNG-owned Avenir Advantage in November last year by completing the country’s first STS bunkering operation.
Future Horizon, a joint venture between Petronas’ unit MISC and Avenir, chartered the vessel to Petronas LNG for a period of three years.
The vessel has until this operation bunkered several different ships including Siem’s car carrier, Altera’s shuttle tanker, Posco’s bulk carrier, Furetank’s tanker Fure Vinga, and the Shell-chartered Solar Roma.
According to Avenir and Petronas, the small-scale vessel is the first dedicated LBV in Southeast Asia.