Oceania Marine Energy (Oceania) on Thursday (5 January) said it has signed an exclusive memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Pilbara Clean Fuels Pty Ltd (PCF) on 19 December 2022 to facilitate collaboration to provide a ’low-carbon footprint’ LNG production and marine bunkering capability at Port Hedland.
Under the terms of the MoU, PCF and Oceania have agreed an exclusive relationship through which to collaborate to develop an ‘end-to-end’ low-carbon profile eLNG production and marine vessel bunkering capability concept for Port Hedland.
PCF is pursuing development of an electrified liquefied natural gas (eLNG) plant in Port Hedland, Western Australia, principally for the production of marine bunker fuel. The company is undertaking a conceptual study for the plant with a base case capacity of 0.5 Mtpa with potential expansion to >1.0 Mtpa.
The project will provide an Australian LNG fuel supply capability through a new facility for the conversion of pipeline natural gas to LNG, responding to market demand for cleaner marine bunker fuel for iron ore carriers operating ‘round-trip’ voyages out of Port Hedland.
A key feature of the Project is a fully electrified plant with outsourced power supplied from predominantly renewable sources. The plant design intent is to significantly reduce emissions compared to conventional LNG plants, thereby providing the ability for ‘round-trip’ LNG bunkering in Port Hedland to achieve substantially lower overall GHG life-cycle emissions than other options.
Oceania is developing a LNG marine fuel bunkering business using a purpose-designed LNG refueling vessel to be chartered from Kanfer Shipping, Norway. The LNG refueling concept is based on ship-to-ship bunkering of vessels while at anchor off Port Hedland.
PCF Managing Director, Robert Malabar, said: “We are pleased to have formed the collaborative relationship with OME. The partnership provides a truly end-to-end development and implementation capability for LNG marine bunkering at Port Hedland. We believe the reduced GHG life-cycle profile of the concept, compared to the status quo, will fuel lively debate among stakeholders concerning the overall economic and environmental benefit and ‘value-add’ to WA’s iron ore resources through this attractive application of the State’s natural gas.”
Oceania Managing Director, Nick Bentley, said: “Oceania and PCF’s collaboration heralds the beginning of a new decarbonisation initiative in Western Australia, enabling a much-needed lower-carbon fuel source for shipping. The Oceania and PCF collaboration is aimed at providing a supply capability for low-carbon footprint LNG, for the first time available on-route to the Australia Asia iron ore shipping fleets.
“Together we are excited to participate in Australia’s primary green corridor for shipping, supporting significant emission reductions across the mining and maritime sectors.”
Photo credit: Oceania Marine Energy
Published: 6 January, 2023
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