Page 69: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2012)

June 2012www.marinelink.com 69(Source: American Clean Skies Foundation Report: ?Natural Gas for Marine Vesssels ? U.S. Market Opportunities?) LNGThe Price is RightIn comparison, as shown in the chart on the right, Natural Gas has a Significant Price Advantage today over both residual (70% less) and distillate (85% less) fuel, and is projected by EIA to hold thisprice advantage through 2035. annual demand for distillate fuels isaround 30 million tons, DNV projectsthis could rise to 45 million tons when the0.1 percent limit comes into force inECAs and will be around 200-250 mil-lion tons by 2020. Conversely, the de- mand for heavy fuel oil will plummet from around 290 million tons in 2019 to100 million tons once expected global emissions regulations enter into force in 2020.CLOSER TO HOME In the U.S., there has been no biggersplash for the ?LNG as Fuel? concept thanthe deal whereby Harvey Gulf contracted Trinity Offshore, LLC, in Gulfport, Miss., to build four LNG-fueled OSVs. These ecologically-friendly boats will bedesigned to meet ABS ENVIRO+ stan- dards, and they will have dual-fuel capa- bilities and when running in gas mode, will produce no sulfur oxide emissionssince gas doesn't contain sulfur. Nitrogen oxides will be slashed compared withdiesel operations, and CO2 emissionswill be lowered. Natural gas produces al- most no particulates. Though technolog- ically ahead of many of its larger competitors, Harvey Gulf?s Shane Guidry did admit in a recent interview with sister-publication MarineNews thatMR June12 # 9 (65-73):MR Template 6/12/2012 3:26 PM Page 69