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Steep discounts, new vessels stimulate need for LNG to power ships

Need for melted gas (LNG) to power ships will rise this year on appealing rates, while more dualfuel vessels join the international fleet, market executives said.

Prices of LNG delivered as marine fuel at the world's. biggest bunker hub Singapore are at high discounts of nearly. $ 100 per metric load compared to traditional 0.5% very low. sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO), industry sources said.

That is a far cry from record premiums of more than $1,000 a. ton seen in September 2023, based on data from S&P Global Platts. published on market union SEA-LNG's site, after Russia. triggered a worldwide gas crisis in 2022 by decreasing piped supplies. to Western Europe after its invasion of Ukraine.

LNG prices have actually considering that stabilised at lower levels with ample. supply as winter demand reduces. << LNG-AS >

Consultancy Rystad expects discounts to persist a minimum of. through the third quarter of this year, barring major market. interruption, stated Junlin Yu, a senior analyst on shipping supply. chains.

Worldwide LNG bunker sales in the first 3 months of 2024. reached 1.9 million cubic meters (855,000 lots) and could. surpass 7 million by the end of the year, Rystad forecasts show,. up from 4.7 million cubic meters in 2023.

In Singapore, LNG bunker sales rose for a 4th straight. month to a record 38,600 lots in March, information from the Maritime. and Port Authority showed.

International mining giant BHP, which operates 5 dual-fuelled. bulk providers, is refuelling its ships with 100% LNG in. Singapore on the route in between Port Hedland, Australia, and. China, Rashpal Singh Bhatti, vice president of maritime and. supply chain quality at BHP, told .

We rode out the (previous) uptick in LNG prices and now we. are taking full advantage, he said, adding that LNG likewise. lowers emissions by 30% compared with fuel oil.

Deliveries of brand-new dual-fuel vessels, mainly container ships,. automobile carriers and tankers, are also set to contribute to LNG bunker. need in coming years.

SEA-LNG Chief Operating Officer Steve Esau anticipates there. will be more than 1,000 dual-fuel LNG vessels operating by the. end of 2027, compared with around 400 now, which . determines accounts for less than 1% of the international merchant. fleet.

Esau called for more financial investment in barges devoted to. providing LNG with restricted lifting capability in Singapore, where. 3 companies are accredited to provide LNG as bunker fuel according. to the port authority.

Worldwide, LNG is offered generally at major bunker ports,. with facilities still lagging in scale compared to. traditional marine fuel facilities.