As a transport fuel, LNG has the potential to provide economic and environmental benefits to operators of large trucks, ships and trains. Ocean-going LNG carrier ships have been using it as a fuel for more than 45 years, and we are now bringing its benefits to other types of transport. When used as a fuel, LNG can lower emissions of sulphur, particulates and nitrogen oxides. Its energy density gives distance ranges that transport operators need, and it could help reduce fuel bills.
In March 2013, we announced a series of developments. Our first LNG refuelling station for trucks in Canada opened in Calgary, Alberta. It is supplied with LNG by a third party, but we will provide our own LNG once a liquefaction plant is operational at our Jumping Pound natural gas facility, 30 kilometres west of Calgary.
In the same month, we also announced the final investment decision for two other small-scale gas liquefaction units (0.25 mtpa) in North America that will supply LNG to fuel ships, trucks and industrial customers. One plant will be at our chemical facility in Geismar, Lousiana, supplying the Gulf Coast region, with the other at our manufacturing centre in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, supplying the Great Lakes region.
In the same month Shell launched a tank barge in the Netherlands powered entirely by LNG, the first of two it has chartered. They will be part of the development of a new European LNG marine fuel industry with the potential to power inland barges, ferries, tugs and cruise ships.
Shell’s acquisition in 2012 of Gasnor, a Norwegian LNG fuel company that supplies marine and industrial customers, is another example of Shell’s investment in this growth area.