First LNG bunkering barge in Russia to be built

This is part of the group’s strategy to keep up with the demand for LNG in line with the response to new stricter MARPOL standards on the sulphur content of marine fuels which are expected to be introduced in 2020.

Gazprom Neft said with this regulation coming into force LNG “is expected to play key role in the bunkering market in the medium to long term.”

Bunkering strategy

The company’s specialist bunkering business, Gazpromneft Marine Bunker, established in 2007, is now one of Russia’s leading bunkering companies with sales of bunkering fuels reaching 2.7 million tonnes in 2017.

It operates at all of the country’s key sea and river ports, as well as the ports of Constanta (Romania), Tallinn (Estonia) and Riga (Latvia).

The company’s fleet already comprises 11 bunkering barges, with a total freight capacity of 40,700 cubic metres.

In statement, the company said that environmental requirements under the MARPOL Convention has changed the structure of demand for bunkering fuels in the Baltic basin, with demand for highly refined fuels now up from 11% in 2014 to 23% in 2016. A demand it is responding too.

A key future strategic objective for Gazpromneft Marine Bunker will be fulfilling guaranteed supplies of bunkering fuels for Gazprom Neft’s Arctic projects.

Addressing this objective will involve creating bunkering infrastructure of an entirely new kind, namely terminals capable of operating in the conditions of the Far North and an Arctic-class bunkering fleet.