Petronas supplies first LNG cargo to marine-fuel vessel ahead of IMO 2020

[SINGAPORE] Malaysia's state energy firm Petronas said on Thursday it has supplied its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to a marine-fuel vessel ahead of a new mandate for ships to switch to cleaner fuels in 2020.

Its subsidiary, Petronas LNG, loaded the first such LNG cargo onto the world's largest LNG bunker vessel Kairos at the Regasification Terminal Pengerang (RGTP) located in south-eastern Johor, the company said in a statement.

"We believe that small-scale LNG opportunities will increase from the utilisation of alternative cleaner fuel such as LNG," Petronas LNG chief executive officer Ezhar Yazid Jaafar said.

"The new regulation of 0.5 per cent global sulphur cap to be imposed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in January 2020 will make LNG the alternative fuel of choice for the shipping industry."

Kairos has a capacity of 7,500 cubic metres, and it stopped in Malaysia to refuel while making its way from South Korea's Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in Ulsan to Europe, Petronas said.

REUTERS