Sumitomo Corp is including Turkey in its worldwide efforts to promote LNG as a shipping fuel for the future.
The Japanese trading giant struck a cooperation agreement with Turkish state energy company Botas and local Arkas Holding to introduce LNG bunkering in Turkey.
The three parties announced their cooperation on Wednesday, without detailing much about what the deal actually entails or how it will move forward.
The long-term object of the partnership is to turn Turkey into a natural gas hub in the Mediterranean.
“We would like to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the creation of an LNG bunkering hub in Turkey,” said Yukio Kanazawa, board vice chairman of Sumitomo’s subsidiary in Turkey.
Despite plans to use LNG on a global scale as a way to meet intermediate environmental goals, infrastructure to introduce it is still in its infancy, particularly so in the Mediterranean — one of the world’s busiest commercial waterways.
Arkas and Sumitomo set out to change that three years ago, when they signed an initial cooperation agreement. Their current move to bring Botas into the fold adds a powerful physical supplier to the partnership.
State-run Botas operates 23,000 km of oil and natural gas pipelines, as well as two underground natural gas storage facilities and two regasification units.
Arkas Bunkering has been in business since 2006 and has six barges.
“We have already started to make preparations for the supply of LNG as bunker fuel in Turkey,” Secking Gul, general manager of Arkas Bunkering, said.
Global network
Sumitomo's activities in Turkey are just part of a worldwide effort to promote LNG as a shipping fuel.
“Having started [an] LNG bunkering business in Asia and North America, we have been a global bunker fuel supplier for many years,” Kanazawa said.
In February, Sumitomo struck a deal with Petronas Trading to market and supply LNG bunkers in Malaysia and Japan. Under their memorandum of collaboration, Sumitomo and Petronas would market each other’s supplies and related services to their own customers.
In February 2019, Sumitomo and local Japanese partners ordered what was then touted as Asia’s first LNG bunkering vessel — a dual-fuel ship that can be converted to carrying natural gas if demand in Japanese waters proves sufficient.
Last September, Sumitomo tied up a separate agreement with Canadian LNG distributor Cryopeak to develop an LNG bunker fuels supply chain in the North American country.
Sumitomo will offer Cryopeak’s end-to-end LNG fuelling solutions to existing and potential customers in ports on the west coast of North America.
Cryopeak is developing a proprietary design for an LNG bunkering barge scheduled to begin operations in 2023. Last December, it approached shipyards in Europe and Asia for cost estimates for the potential newbuilding.
According to Cryopeak, this would be Canada’s first LNG bunkering vessel.
