China's First Coastal LNG Ship Filling Station Goes into Operation

China's first coastal liquefied natural gas (LNG) filling station has been put into operation in South China's Hainan Province.

Built and operated by CNOOC Gas & Power Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the newly-operational LNG filling station is designed to fill 25,000 tons of LNG annually at lower costs and with a shorter construction period and smaller land occupation.

Its maximum filling capacity is 54 cubic meters per hour, equaling that of diesel fuel. Each refueling allows a ship to sail 1,800 nautical miles (3,333.6 kilometers), enough for about 15 days of navigation.

The station has refueled two CNOOC LNG stand-by ships 12 times since its trial operation on March 15.

As implementation of CNOOC's clean energy ship project, six LNG stand-by ships are scheduled to be put into service in the South China Sea by the end of this year.

Operation of the LNG filling station is expected to promote use of clean fuel on ships, which is of great significance in improving air quality of cities in the coastal and inland river regions and protecting inland river and ocean environments.

CNOOC highly values providing clean energy in Hainan and has supplied 23.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the region, 3.3 billion cubic meters of which were LNG.

The company will continue to make full use of its LNG industrial advantages to build an LNG filling network, which will promote various types of ships to use LNG instead of oil. The transformation will contribute to construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port and the National Ecological Civilization Pilot Zone, and help the region take the lead in achieving the goals of peak carbon dioxide emission and carbon neutrality.

LNG is regarded as a clean fossil energy. Compared to traditional fuel, burning LNG releases zero sulfur oxides and airborne particles and has 90 percent less nitrogen oxide emissions. It also has less cost and higher power efficiency.

(Executive editor: Niu Yilin)