Japan’s Astomos Energy Corporation and oil company Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) have agreed to further study the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as ship bunker fuel.
The parties reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the aim to enhance cooperation, share and research information in the fields of consideration of LPG fueled vessels, organizing global supply sites for LPG bunkering and other fields relating to LPG bunkering.
For the past years, KPC and Astomos have been forming respectable business partnership in the fields of LPG supply and import. This MOU made the partnership stronger for the two companies and will contribute to expansion of new business fields, Astomos said.
The latest MOU comes on the back of an agreement reached with Australian LPG distributor Elgas in late October, aimed at further studying the use of LPG as bunker fuel. Earlier in 2017, Astomos signed a separate MOU with Norway-based oil and gas company Statoil for the same purposes.
LPG bunkering concept was shaped as one of the solutions for the approaching SOx Regulation for shipping fuels in 2020.