At an international seminar on marine LNG held yesterday in Algiers by NAFTAL, the country’s principal domestic distributor of fuels and subsidiary of energy giant Sonatrach, discussion focused on development opportunities for this sector in Algeria. Algeria is planning to implement liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel, to be used by ships to replace the traditional fuel and reduce operating costs, including fishing.
Acknowledging the growing adoption of LNG as a marine fuel that meets increasingly stringent emissions controls, Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy, Ahmed Messili, said there are emerging growth prospects for Algeria, a major producer of LNG, to establish its presence as a key player in LNG bunkering.
According to a report published by Algérie Presse Service, over 220,000 vessels passed through the Strait of Gibraltar in 2012, with annual growth of 7% since 2008. The IMO has proposed the Mediterranean eventually become an Emission Control Area similar to that implemented for the Baltic Sea-North Sea-English Channel, where allowable sulphur content decrease from 1.0% to 0.1% as of 1 January 2015.
