Biofuels for ships

SINGAPORE - TotalEnergies will start offering biofuels as a bunkering fuel to its customers in Singapore from next year, a senior executive at the French energy giant said on Thursday, as the company seeks to reduce its emissions in shipping.

The move would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping by 20-25 per cent, said Vice President Marine Fuels Louise Tricoire.

“We will be able to deliver biofuels with new UCOME (used cooking oil methyl ester) based supply chain in Singapore by 1 Jan 2023 for customers,” said Mr Tricoire at the Singapore International Bunkering Conference and Exhibition (SIBCON) 2022.

The shipping industry accounts for nearly 3 per cent of the world’s CO2 emissions and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is seeking to halve the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 from 2008 levels.

This target will require rapid development of zero- or lowemission fuels and new designs for ships.

At the same conference on Tuesday, Cargill Inc said it was trying to boost its vessels’ use of biofuels to 50,000 tonnes by midor end-2023, up from 12,000 tonnes since January.

TotalEnergy is also investing more than $4 billion this year “for renewable energies and new, low-carbon molecules,” added Mr

Tricoire.

Last week, TotalEnergies said it would increase its capital expenditure to $14-18b a year through 2025 from $13-16b previously, with investments targeting wind and solar energy and energy savings as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity.

While LNG is an existing bunker fuel solution, it also opens the way for the shipping industry to use biomethane as a greener natural gas fuel option, said Denis

Bonhomme, global sales and business development director at TotalEnergies Marine Fuels, a unit of TotalEnergies.

“For a start, the use of guarantees of origin in Europe will enable the shipping industry to further decarbonise,” he said.

Still, Mr Bonhomme expected the volumes of LNG as a bunker fuel to triple by 2025, and increase 20-fold by 2030.

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