SIMIC

GAIL, Indian state-owned gas provider, has completed the first ever ship-to-ship liquefied natural gas (LNG) to cut costs as the company seeks to increase revenue, reports Bangalore's MarineInsight.

The ship normally sails 19,554 nautical miles round trip to transport LNG from the Sabine Pass, Texas, via the Suez Canal to India.



This journey takes 54 days and produces about 15,600 tons of CO2.



Emissions are often reduced by utilising cutting-edge technology or shifting the cargo's destination. GAIL's novel contractual structure, which results in ships following an optimised itinerary, has reduced CO2 emissions.



The company-hired vessel dubbed Castillo De Santisteban recently transported a shipload of LNG from the United States.



In the middle of the voyage, it switched cargo to another chartered contracted vessel, the Marshall Islands-flagged 107,000-dwt Al Gharrafa of QatarGas, claiming that the unique ship-to-ship (STS) transfer became the first in the world.



An official said this is the world's first STS between a big conventional LNG ship and a Q-Flex LNG Vessel.



The QatarGas vessel then went to Dahej, Gujarat, to release the cargo that was scheduled to be released by the GAIL tanker. Its ship sailed back from Gibraltar to its subsequent loading port.



This has culminated in savings of 8,736 nautical miles, or 7,000 tons of CO2 emissions. This has reduced the voyage of GAIL's chartered vessel from 54 days to about 27 days.