LNG lobby group lauds provisional FuelEU Maritime agreement

Conventional LNG, bio-LNG and e-LNG will play critical roles in achieving the shipping emission reduction targets proposed in the FuelEU Maritime, LNG interest organisation SEA-LNG argues.

PHOTO: Large LNG tanks at an LNG terminal. Getty Images

Last week, the European Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets and amendments under FuelEU Maritime. According to the proposal, the maritime sector will have to cut the GHG intensity of the energy used on board ships by 2% by 2025, 14.5% by 2035 and 80% by 2050, compared to 2020 levels.

SEA-LNG has widely advocated for LNG as the most readily available alternative marine fuel. However, LNG is primarily made up of methane, a potent GHG that traps 86 times more heat than CO2 does.

When methane slip from upstream and downstream processes are taken into account, then LNG emits about 19% more lifecycle GHG emissions than MGO over a 100-year period, a report from US non-profit International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) shows. Over a 20-year period, LNG has 36% higher GHG emissions than MGO.

The ICCT report states that methane slip occurs during extraction, processing and transportation of LNG, thereby contributing to push its lifecycle emissions higher. Methane slip can be controlled on a tank-to-wake basis using a high-pressure injection dual-fuel (HPDF) engine, it added. But ICCT claims that the majority of the current LNG-fuelled fleet does not run on HPDF engines.

Meanwhile, SEA-LNG argues that tank-to-wake methane slip is no longer a valid argument to use against LNG, as recent technological advancements in LNG-fuelled ship engines have mostly resolved the problem. The group cites a study by the US-based sustainable consulting firm Sphera, which found that ship engine manufacturers forecast that LNG engines will have negligible levels of methane slip by 2030 due to engine technology improvements.

By Nithin Chandran

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