On 27 October, Klaipėdos Nafta AB (KN) marked the symbolic opening of its small-scale onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) reloading station; however, the trial operations and commissioning works will continue until the end of the year. The LNG reloading station is intended to supply LNG for customers in the Baltic Sea region as well as promote the use of clean fuel for maritime operations and heavy vehicles, ensuring access to LNG for remote consumers.
The construction of the LNG reloading station commenced in February 2016, upon contract with the consortium comprising German-Lithuanian PPS Pipeline Systems GmbH and Czech Chart Ferox A.S. It is a commercial project implemented AB Klaipėdos Nafta with the support of the EU program Motorways of the Seas (MoS).
The LNG reloading station consists of five 1000 m3 tanks for the storage of LNG, the cleanest fossil fuel used for maritime operations, road transport, cryogenic applications, and supply to the remote consumers. LNG is non-corrosive, non-explosive, and non-toxic. The technical design of the station provides for a possibility to increase the station’s capacity up to 10 thousand cubic meters. The station may simultaneously accommodate two LNG trucks and one small-scale LNG gas carrier.
Chart Ferox tanks transported to Klaipeda (March 2017)
“The LNG reloading station is one of the major investment projects included in the company’s strategy for the period until 2020, with the need for and usefulness of it already seen at the time of the station’s commissioning: the first commissioning cargo has been delivered by the global oil and gas giant Shell, and the first LNG trucks already shipped to Poland. We believe that Lithuania will eventually develop the network of LNG regasification stations: its beginning can already be seen in Druskininkai, with the progress and favorable prospects felt in the neighboring countries. We can safely assume that such result achieved over the three-year period is a consequence of the LNG terminal built in December 2014,” emphasized CEO of KN Mindaugas Jusius.
According to him, the LNG reloading station establishes a comprehensive LNG supply chain throughout the region and enables the seaport of Klaipėda to fly the flag of a port promoting environmentally friendly technologies. This is particularly important given the increasingly stringent requirements related to the emissions of sulphur dioxide.
Source: KN
