Gas-fuelled shipping set to draw new investments

[NEW YORK] Royal Dutch Shell plc, General Electric Co (GE) and a company co-founded by T Boone Pickens are planning investments in natural gas-powered shipping as record US output spurs the merchant fleet to use a new fuel.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp, which Mr Pickens helped start, will begin construction next year on the country's first fuel station for cargo ships running on liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Jacksonville, Florida.

Shell said in March it's planning LNG plants for the Great Lakes and Gulf Coast.

GE, evaluating five locations, says the United States will need 50 to 100 small-scale plants for ships, trains, mining and trucks by 2025, each costing US$50 million to US$150 million.

"We truly believe the age of gas is here," said Mike Hosford, GE's general manager for unconventional resources, based in Houston. "The industry needs bigger players to step in and start helping to build out the infrastru…