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Petronas, through its subsidiary Petronas LNG Ltd. (PLL) and its shipping affiliate MISC Berhad (MISC), has inked a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Gas4Sea to explore a potential collaboration in promoting LNG as the preferred marine fuel.

Under the terms of the MoU, the parties are to explore ways to collaborate and identify potential business opportunities in relation to LNG bunkering.

Gas4Sea is the LNG bunkering business of partners Engie, Mitsubishi Corporation and NYK Line. Launched last September, the company was created to promote LNG as a maritime fuel via the provision of LNG bunkering services.

Signing on behalf of PLL and MISC, on May 9, were Ezhar Yazid Jaafar, PLL chief marketing officer & chief executive officer; and Faizul Ismail, vice president of MISC's LNG business unit.

Gas4Sea was represented by Yuji Toshima, general manager of Mitubishi's LNG bunkering business; Denis Bonhomme, Engie's senior vice president of business development in Asia; and Takahiro Nito, NYK's Fuel Project Team manager.

Commenting on the MoU, Ezhar said the collaboration was expected to enhance Petronas's presence in the integrated LNG value chain and diversified LNG market portfolio.

"Petronas is looking at ways to further promote the consumption of LNG beyond the existing markets portfolios, and advocating LNG as marine fuel is a new frontier for the LNG sector," remarked Ezhar.

"In addition, this collaboration will also support the usage of LNG as a fuel of choice for maritime activities, which is in line with Petronas' effort in helping the industry reduce its carbon footprint," added Ezhar.

As previously reported, Engie, Fluxys, Mitsubishi Corporation, and NYK Line took delivery of the world's first purpose built LNG bunkering vessel in Zeebrugge last month.

The 5,000-cubic-metre-LNG-capacity Engie Zeebrugge is being used to supply LNG as a marine fuel to ships operating in northern Europe.