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Spanish LNG operator Gas Natural Fenosa signed a 10-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply deal with neighbor shipping company Baleària.
The contract - signed on the morning of January 18th in Madrid, during the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) in Madrid, by the President of Baleària, Adolfo Utor, and by the Commercial Director of the wholesale market of Gas Natural Fenosa, Joaquín Mendiluce - represents the first agreement for the bunkering of LNG-powered ships signed in the Iberian peninsula.
Under the agreement GNF will deliver liquefied natural gas to Baleària in the ports of Barcelona, Valencia and Algeciras for the latter’s LNG-fueled vessels.
The company added that the delivery of LNG will be extended to all the ports in which the shipping company operates, covering also its entire LNG-fueled fleet.
GNF plans to deploy a dedicated bunkering vessel in the port of Barcelona to cover the contract while the two companies are working together to develop adequate infrastructure for the ports of Valencia and Algeciras.
Adolfo Utor, Baleària’s President noted that the company is currently building two LNG-fueled vessels to be operated in the Mediterranean with the first one expected to begin operation at the start of next year.
In the first week of January 2018, Gas Natural Fenosa has launched the world’s first universal ship-to-shore transfer system, named DirectLink LNG Projectct.
The new infrastructure, developed in collaboration with Norwegian Connect LNG technology, was designed and manufactured in the record time of barely 6 months in a Brevik shipyard, from where it was towed to the Norwegian port of Herøya. The first unloading operation was carried out there and proved a complete success; demonstrating the system’s functionality, versatility and rapid start-up.
