Norwegian shipowner Hoegh LNG is keen to expand in the small-scale LNG business, it is also studying possibilities for delivering hydrogen and exploring solutions to reduce its carbon footprint.
The small-scale LNG market offers "fantastic growth opportunities", particularly in the bunkering sector, where demand could be 10 times higher by 2030, Hoegh LNG chief executive Sveinung Stohle told Argus. Growth expectations are even higher for distribution of LNG to off-grid markets such as islands, which are often dependent on refined oil products, he said. Hoegh LNG has formed small-scale supply joint venture Avenir LNG with fellow Norwegian firms Stolt-Nielsen and Golar.
Ship-to-truck transfer solutions could be suitable for small-scale off-grid supplies, but could also provide flexibility to larger markets, Stohle said. All of Hoegh LNG's floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) have truck-loading capabilities and can typically load 100-150 trucks/day, loading 2-3 simultaneously — in some cases this could be increased significantly. At peak, the 170,000m³ Hoegh Esperanza was able to load up to 400 trucks/day at China's Tianjin terminal, where the jetty facility is suitable to load eight vehicles simultaneously.
Hoegh LNG is conscious that the LNG industry must address the "crucial point" of its carbon footprint. LNG could play a role in the energy transition, in the form of liquefied biogas (bio-LNG) and synthetic LNG, but hydrogen could emerge as a more compelling low-carbon energy solution in the long term, Stohle said.
The firm has recently invested in a small Norwegian hydrogen producer and is studying the possibility of shipping hydrogen to northwest Europe in 2023, either in a gaseous or liquefied state. Hoegh will "definitely look to design and build hydrogen vessels in the future", Stohle said. And the firm is considering using existing FSRUs to receive and store ammonia, which would be turned into hydrogen and injected into the grid to blend with gas. Ammonia would be stored in liquid form, but requires a temperature of only -34°C — although it has a higher density than LNG and weighs more.
An emerging hydrogen market may be more "localised" than the LNG market is at present, Stohle said. And with production dependent on the availability of renewable sources, a hydrogen market would have less demand for long-haul seaborne transport, he said.
