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Keppel Corporation Ltd (Keppel) has announced that KS Investments Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd, has entered into a shareholders agreement with Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte.) Ltd. for the formation of a Singapore-incorporated joint venture company.

The shareholding of Keppel and Shell in the business will be 50 percent and 50 percent respectively.

The new joint venture is to establish an LNG bunkering business in Singapore, and its principal business activities will be to provide LNG bunkering services to ships at the Asian hub, Keppel said.

The news comes less than six months since Keppel Offshore & Marine, through KS Investments, and BG Group were selected by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to supply LNG bunker fuel to vessels calling at the city-state.

The port of Singapore intends to launch its LNG Bunkering Pilot Programme in 2017.

BG Group is the exclusive aggregator for Singapore's first 3 million tonnes per annum of LNG demand. Following the start of commercial operations at Singapore LNG Corporation's LNG terminal in May 2013, BG Group has been delivering cargoes into Singapore from its global LNG portfolio. In January 2016, Keppel confirmed that BG Group had brought in 72 cargoes over a period of around 20 months.

Speaking earlier this year, Chow Yew Yuen, chief executive officer, Keppel O&M, said: "The move into LNG bunkering is in line with Keppel's strategy to provide solutions for the global LNG market."

"We will be able to provide strong support to MPA in its goal to develop Singapore into a key LNG bunkering hub in Asia. As the shipping industry's demand for green solutions continues to rise, we will also be able to help meet the needs for sustainable shipping with our growing LNG solutions, such as tug designs with dual-fuel diesel LNG engines and the retrofitting of vessel engines to run on LNG," he added.