Australia's Woodside Energy and Norway's Siem Offshore entered into a five-year charter contract for the delivery of Australia’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered marine support vessel in 2017.
Woodside chief operations officer Mike Utsler said the announcement positioned the company as an early adopter of LNG as a marine fuel in the region.
“Our LNG tankers use their cargo to power their engines, making them cleaner vessels that use less diesel. It’s natural that we progress this capability through to our support vessels,” Utsler said.
Woodside’s new vessel will be greener, reducing vessel greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions and the reliance on imported diesel, while providing safe, reliable support to Woodside’s assets in the Exmouth and Pilbara regions.
The company said it would continue to seek to expand the application of LNG-fueling in transportation in Western Australia. Dual-fuel has an exciting future as it can be used to power a wide range of vessels.