Shell’s New Frontier 2 debuts LNG bunkering in Jamaica
Shell's New Frontier 2 debuts LNG bunkering in Jamaica - Offshore Energy
Shell’s New Frontier 2 debuts LNG bunkering in Jamaica
Shell’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker vessel New Frontier 2 has completed its inaugural bunker operation at the Port of Jamaica.
The bunkering operation was carried out in Portland Bight with the assistance of the Maritime Authority of Jamaica and the Port Authority of Jamaica, according to Shell’s head of downstream LNG, Tahir Faruqui.
“This also signified an important milestone for us in Jamaica where we conducted our first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering in Portland Bight,” Faruqui noted.
This 18,000 cbm LNG bunker vessel is the third ship deployed in the Americas and is part of Shell’s lineup of twelve bunker vessels.
To remind, New Frontier 2 was christened in July this year. The ship was built by South Korean shipbuilding company Hyundai Mipo Dockyard. Shell signed a charter agreement with South Korean shipping company Pan Ocean for this vessel.
According to the company, New Frontier 2 is capable of bunkering multiple ship types, both in port and offshore. It can also provide loading and gas-up/cool-down services to LNG carriers and LNG-fueled vessels.
Related Knowledge Center: Liquefied natural gas
Driven by plentiful natural gas produced from shale plays, the United States began exporting liquefied natural gas in 2016 when the Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana opened and shipped its first cargo. Since then, additional capacity, or trains, have been added to Sabine Pass, and terminals have become operational in Cameron Parish, La.; Hackberry, La.; Cove Point, Md.; and Corpus Christi, Texas. The Energy Information Administration projects that U.S. LNG export capacity will reach 8.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by the end of 2019, making it the third largest in the world, behind Australia and Qatar. The tariff war with China has the potential to impact some final investment decisions for additional terminals in the coming months.