India’s Top Gas Firm GAIL Achieves 1s Ship-to-Ship LNG Transfer in the World

GAIL, India’s largest gas provider, has completed the first-ever ship-to-ship liquefied natural gas (LNG) transfer to cut down on transportation costs and reduce emissions as the state-owned institution seeks new methods to expand revenue, per company officials. GAIL has purchased 5.8 million tons of LNG via the United States.

This volume is delivered to India using LNG ships. The ship normally sails 19,554 nautical miles round trip to transport LNG from the Sabine Pass in the US via the Suez Canal and Gibraltar to India.

This journey takes roughly 54 days and produces about 15,600 tons of CO2.

Emissions are often reduced by utilizing cutting-edge technology or shifting the cargo’s destination. GAIL’s novel contractual structure, which results in ships following an optimized itinerary, has reduced CO2 emissions.

The company-hired vessel dubbed Castillo De Santisteban recently transported a shipload of LNG from the United States.

In the middle of the voyage, it switched cargo to another chartered contracted vessel, Al Gharrafa of QatarGas, claiming that the unique ship-to-ship (STS) transfer became the first in the world.

An official said this is the world’s first STS between a big conventional LNG ship and a Q-Flex LNG Vessel.

The QatarGas vessel then went to Dahej, Gujarat, to release the cargo that was scheduled to be released by the GAIL tanker. Its ship sailed back from Gibraltar to its subsequent loading port.

This has culminated in savings of approximately 8,736 nautical miles, or 7,000 tons of CO2 emissions. This has reduced the voyage of GAIL’s chartered vessel from 54 days to about 27 days.

According to an official, GAIL’s optimized gain in this charter was more than $1 million. On its backhaul, the QatarGas vessel saved money on fuel and canal fees while earning revenue.

As a result, this optimization strategy benefited both GAIL and QatarGas. GAIL has established a proof of concept that can be scaled up.

It has served as a learning for the LNG shipping sector in that owners, and charterers can cut shipping distance through contractual arrangements, resulting in significant reductions in carbon emissions.

Expanding this concept to include at least two cargoes per month would result in a distance savings of a whopping 2,09,664 nm per year.

Per officials, this would reduce 1,67,731 tons of CO2 emissions and significantly increase vessel utilization. This innovation and the first floating CNG station aided in GAIL winning the Asian Oil and Gas Awards.

It secured the ‘Innovation Award – India and Midstream Project of the Year’. GAIL built a CNG station aboard a floating boat in the Ganges at Varanasi a few months ago to refuel ships that run on environmentally friendly gasoline.

According to officials, the corporation built a CNG dispensing system that manages the structure’s response to changing water levels.

Reference: Millenium Post

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