Cepsa, a Madrid-based international energy group fully owned by the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), will supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to ships through the first multi-product barge in Europe. Cepsa will work alongside its strategic business partner, shipping company Suardíaz Fleet (Flota Suardíaz), to design and construct the vessel which will be able to provide all types of marine fuels.
The project forms part of the ‘Core LNGas Hive’ initiative, selected by the European Commission, whose objective is to develop an LNG logistics network to promote the use of the gas as a fuel for transport, especially in the marine environment. The project is led by the country’s ports and coordinated by Enagas, and has 42 partners in Spain and Portugal, among them Cepsa. ‘Core LNGas Hive’ aims to lower carbon emissions in the Mediterranean and Atlantic and to promote clean energies for transport and care for the environment through the European Union.
The first barge will start operations in 2018 from the port of Barcelona. The Company will become the first supplier of this fuel ship-to-ship through a multi-product barge in Spain, and Barcelona will become the first port in southern Europe to offer it.
“Cepsa is a bunker leader in Spain and supplies marine fuels in other important international ports such as Fujairah and Panama, so it had to be involved in this project. We are convinced that it will open a new chapter in the European bunkering market, whose future will be closely tied to the use of lower emitting fuels such as liquefied natural gas,” he added.
(Source: Cepsa)
