A second LNG carrier has been hit by environmental activists Greenpeace in a protest off Spain against the use of fossil gas and the country's use of it.
The 138,000-cbm Merchant (built 2003) was daubed on its hull's port side with the slogan "No + Gas" by protestors in inflatables while other carried banners reading "El gas no es el futuro" or "Gas is not the future".
Greenpeace Espana said its vessel Esperanza tied up next to the terminal in an effort to prevent the ship from discharging.
The Merchant, which is owned by South Korea's Sinokor Merchant Marine, is carrying a US cargo owned by Centrica that is to be discharged at Enagas Sagunto terminal.
It is now waiting off the terminal.
The vessel is on charter to US-listed LNG supplier and terminal operator New Fortress Energy, which has been trading LNG cargoes but has long-term plans to shift its operations to hydrogen.
Greenpeace said it wants Enagas and Spain's energy companies to abandon fossil gas.
"The regasification plant next to which our ship Esperanza is anchored is 72.5% owned by Enagas and is one of the hot spots of the so-called gas crisis," Greenpeace Esperanza said in a tweet. "This plant is responsible for some 4.5 million tons of direct CO2 emissions per year."
Greenpeace is holding its protest as energy ministers hold an extraordinary meeting of the European Council in Luxembourg to discuss the impact of the sharp energy price rises and in advance of the huge COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, which starts this weekend.
Second shot
It is the group's second hit on an LNG vessel.
On 21 October, Greenpeace activists painted the words "Climate killer" along the hull of the 140,000-cbm floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) LNG Croatia (built 2005), which is moored off Krk Island.
The protest coincided with a visit by the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise to the Adriatic to promote the European Citizen Initiative petition that calls for a ban on fossil fuel advertising.
Greenpeace, which this month helped launch an initiative to ban fossil fuel advertising, argues that gas is neither a clean nor transitional fuel due to its methane and CO2 emissions.
Francisco del Pozo, the group's gas campaign head, said: "The gas has to stop. A government and some companies that want to demonstrate their commitment to the fight against climate change, the first thing they have to do is set an expiration date on all fossil fuels."
Tatiana Nuno, head of climate change campaign at Greenpeace, said: "... Companies like Repsol, Naturgy or Shell invest millions in advertising to convince us that a fossil fuel as harmful to the climate as gas can be part of the solution to the emergency climatic. The time has come to remove the microphone from the climate killers and turn off their dirty propaganda."
Greenpeace wants to see a 100% renewable electricity system, free of fossil gas, no later than 2030 and to reach net-zero emissions by 2040.
