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Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) - one of the world's largest petrochemicals manufacturers, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - says that its LNG bunkering arrangement with Shell in Teesport, UK, is a "temporary" solution while it develops its own bunkering facility in Teesside.

In May, Shell bunkered the SABIC-chartered vessels Coral Star and Coral Sticho in Teesport. It was the first LNG bunkering operation for Shell in the UK.

Commenting on its arrangement with Shell in a statement, SABIC said yesterday (July 27): "It is a temporary LNG bunkering facility supporting SABIC, as we are developing for our own jetty at PD Ports in parallel. The permanent solution by SABIC will be completed later this year."

"SABIC is pleased with Shell's temporary bunkering facility in the UK, as our vessels now no longer need to bunker the fuel in Zeebrugge. This will certainly increase efficiency and reduce costs. Simultaneously, we are preparing our own SABIC bunkering facility in Teesside. The solution with Shell is helping us to bridge the time until we have our own LNG bunkering facility in Q4 this year," SABIC added.

The two LNG-fuelled vessels, Coral Star and Coral Sticho, have been chartered from Dutch gas tanker operator Anthony Veder, and operate between Teesport and ports on the European continent.

The vessels were delivered to SABIC in late 2014. They carry liquefied ethylene gas (LEG) from SABIC's Wilton facility on Teesside to manufacturing plants in North-West Europe and Scandinavia. The chemicals are used to make a range of everyday items such as food packaging, PVC, detergents and adhesives.

With the establishment of an LNG bunkering solution in Teesport, the vessels are to run solely on LNG, creating a reduction in emissions. According to Shell, its LNG contains virtually no sulphur or particulate matter, and significantly reduces NOx emissions versus heavy fuel oil.

Jan Valkier, CEO of ship owner Anthony Veder commented: "This first LNG bunkering allows for a continuous safe and reliable bunkering operation for the Coral Star and Coral Sticho. We are proud that these vessels are world's first LNG-fuelled LEG carriers. A major achievement for LNG as a marine fuel and our company. We highly appreciate the close collaboration between well-respected partners involved that made this success possible."

Arjan Stavast, Shell LNG business development manager, explained: "We are very proud of achieving this milestone for LNG bunkering. The intensive collaboration between Shell, SABIC, Anthony Veder and contractors Schenk, Unitrove, PD Ports and Liqal has enabled this success."

"As a responsible global company, SABIC is committed to providing high-quality products to our customers, while doing all we reasonably can in order to reduce the environmental impact of our operations," remarked Paul Ruigt, Category Manager for Shipping & Barging at SABIC Supply Chain Chemicals Europe.

"The establishment of the LNG bunkering solution enables us to run the LEG carriers fully on LNG and supports us to meet our targets on emission reduction. The bunkering solution is part of a bigger project to realize a breakthrough in the application of LNG for short sea shipping by starting and developing a dedicated LNG demand and supply chain in the United Kingdom. This pioneering project is co-financed by the European Union," Ruigt added.

Image: Teesport.