Gas Natural SDG : Fenosa bunkers the first liquefied natural gas for a Baleària ferry in the Port of Barcelona

• Yesterday the energy company bunkered the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the Baleària vessel Abel Matutes, marking another milestone in the two companies' joint project to reduce emissions and improve air quality, especially in port settings.

• GAS NATURAL FENOSA and the shipping line are driving the development and installation of a natural gas engine and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank onboard thisBaleària ferry which operates on the Barcelona-Palma de Mallorca route.

GAS NATURAL FENOSA and Baleària successfully bunkered the first liquefied natural gas on the ferryAbel Matutes yesterday as part of their project, the first of its kind in Spain, to install an auxiliary natural gas engine and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank aimed at reducing emissions and improving air quality.

Natural gas bunkering is envisaged in the energy supply contract signed by the two companies when they launched the project. This bunkering process is of the truck to ship (TTS) kind, which consists of directly transferring the fuel from a tanker to the Abel Matutes. It is the first operation of its kind to be carried out in the Port of Barcelona under its 2016 Air Quality Improvement Plan.

And it marks a project milestone, as once the pertinent tests have been performed, the vessel will be able operate with the auxiliary natural gas engine, thus reducing emissions from its manoeuvres in the port areas of Barcelona and Mallorca, the two cities connected daily by this Baleària ferry.

'With this joint project with Baleària, and in close collaboration with the Port of Barcelona, GAS NATURAL FENOSA is continuing to promote the use of natural gas as an alternative fuel for transporting people and goods, helping to improve air quality and replacing more polluting fuels,' said Daniel López Jorda, Managing Director of Retail Energy Business.

'With this project we are taking the first step in our commitment to using this fuel, which will also drive the smartship we are building. 'This makes Baleària a pioneering shipping line in the use of LNG in Spain,' said Baleària President Adolfo Utor.

A project to reduce emissions

Using this technology on the ferry will lead to emission reductions and annual savings of almost 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), over 60 tonnes of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and 6 tonnes of sulphur oxide (SOx).

The project continues to make progress following the installation of an auxiliary gas engine and a 30 m3 tank (enough for one week) on deck 8 of the Abel Matutes. The new engine is fully integrated into the ship's electricity plant, enabling it to operate with any of the onboard auxiliary engines, with no visual impact. The ferry, which measures 190 metres in length, has a capacity of 900 people and 2,235 linear metres of wheeled cargo.

This action is part of the European CLEANPORT project and is co-funded by the European Union through the CEF-Transport program, participants in which include not only GAS NATURAL FENOSA and Baleària, but the ports of Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca and the Directorate-General for Merchant Shipping. For the Port of Barcelona it is a strategic project to drive and encourage the change to liquefied natural gas for ships, lorries and terminal machinery.

Natural gas: the key to reducing carbon in maritime transport

The transport sector is one of the key sectors for reducing global warming, as it is one of the most polluting and a big emitter of CO2. In this context, vehicular natural gas (VNG), used as compressed natural gas (CNG) for light transport and as liquefied natural gas (LNG) for ships and heavy transport, is set to become the transport fuel of the future thanks to its multiple advantages.

As with road transport, VNG in its liquefied version, or LNG, is a fuel with great potential for lowering carbon emissions in maritime transport, given that the vast majority of vessels currently run on petroleum products. The use of liquefied natural gas as a fuel for transporting goods will lead to a significant reduction in emissions of pollutants and suspended particles from port activities, as reflected in the Port of Barcelona's Air Quality Improvement Plan for last year.

Gas Natural Fenosa: a leader in supplying LNG to end customers

In the last year, GAS NATURAL FENOSA has been busy working throughout Europe to promote the use of natural gas as a maritime propulsion fuel based on the environmental benefits this energy can offer in urban and maritime settings.

The use of natural gas as a fuel is one of GAS NATURAL FENOSA's strategic activities. It currently supplies more than 6 TWh a year, making it the Iberian Peninsula's leading supplier of LNG to end customers.

Barcelona, 30 January 2017.

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