LNG sales at Rotterdam port soar as MDO displaces MGO: data

London, (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Sales of liquefied natural gas LNG at the port of Rotterdam quadrupled in the first quarter of 2021 versus a year ago, as the fuel starts to get rolled out as a lower emission alternative to fuel oil.

According to port figures published Tuesday, almost 140,000 m3 of LNG was sold in the first three months of the year compared with 35,426 m3 in the corresponding period in 2020 and more than ten-times higher than the amount sold in Q1 2019.

The rise in LNG as a fuel is primarily to help the IMO's target to cut the carbon intensity of the global shipping fleet 40% under 2008 levels by the end of the decade.

However, sales of the fuel at Europe's biggest port did not come at the expense of the sale of more conventional fuel, with fuel oil sales down just 2% on 2020 and 2019 figures and 3.5% down on the three year average.

Sales of fuel oil totalled 1.86 million mt, versus 1.9 million mt in the previous two corresponding quarters in 2020 and 2019.

Marine fuel (0.5% sulfur) accounted for 55% of the first quarter sales, while 34% was high sulfur fuel oil and 11% was ultra low sulfur fuel oil.

Sales of marine gas oil fell 30% to 251,000 mt compared with 344,000 mt a year earlier.

That was largely substituted by sales of marine diesel oil, which rose by 112,000 mt from 62,000 mt in Q1 2020 to 175,000 mt in the first three months of the year.

LNG has often been touted as a greener alternative to bunker fuel, which accounts for more than 2% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, but is also a significant contributor to sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions.

LNG has long been touted as a potential bridging fuel to replace existing bunker fuels, such as residual fuel oil and diesel-based residual fuel oil substitutes, while potentially much cleaner hydrogen- and ammonia-fuelled ships and their supply chains are developed.

But the World Bank has called its green reputation into question, arguing that the use doesn't account for the energy intensive nature of the fuel, which has to be produced and liquefied at very low temperatures.

In a report last month, the World Bank said policymakers should think twice before adopting policies to promote liquefied natural gas as a bunker fuel, the World Bank said in a report this week, claiming the benefits of cutting emissions are too uncertain.