OIL could remain part of the marine fuel mix for a couple of decades due to the challenges in bringing alternative bunker solutions to all ships and routes, according TotalEnergies' vice president Jerome Leprince-Ringuet.
'The diversity of the vessels that you see in our industry is such that not all of them can go to LNG, not all of them can go to ammonia or methanol,' Mr Leprince-Ringuet told S&P Global Platts.
The shipping industry is scrambling to decarbonise and a range of different fuels are presenting themselves, with LNG, methanol, ammonia and biofuels dominating the headlines and in varying states of readiness, he said.
'At the end you will have the hardest-to-abate vessels, those who are tramping places where you will not bring out these fuels in the first instance and therefore you will certainly have a tail of vessels running on oil in the long run,' he said.
This does not mean that oil-based bunkers will not be cleaner - there will be greater energy efficiency and use of technologies such as carbon capture, he said.
Energy efficiency measures such as greater use of digitalisation, specialised hull coatings and slow steaming are being suggested for improving carbon efficiency. Carbon efficiency is receiving greater attention, ahead of IMO targets to increase it by two per cent annually in the global fleet between 2023 and 2026.
The Paris-area totalenergies is targeting net zero by 2050 across its operations although the target for net-zero in its shipping business is muddied by being pegged to mandates by the International Maritime Organisation, which may change over the next few months.
The IMO currently targets a 50 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions across the global fleet by 2050, compared with 2008 levels, although this target is up for review next year and there is a push from companies and governments to upgrade it to 100 per cent.
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'The diversity of the vessels that you see in our industry is such that not all of them can go to LNG, not all of them can go to ammonia or methanol,' Mr Leprince-Ringuet told S&P Global Platts.
The shipping industry is scrambling to decarbonise and a range of different fuels are presenting themselves, with LNG, methanol, ammonia and biofuels dominating the headlines and in varying states of readiness, he said.
'At the end you will have the hardest-to-abate vessels, those who are tramping places where you will not bring out these fuels in the first instance and therefore you will certainly have a tail of vessels running on oil in the long run,' he said.
This does not mean that oil-based bunkers will not be cleaner - there will be greater energy efficiency and use of technologies such as carbon capture, he said.
Energy efficiency measures such as greater use of digitalisation, specialised hull coatings and slow steaming are being suggested for improving carbon efficiency. Carbon efficiency is receiving greater attention, ahead of IMO targets to increase it by two per cent annually in the global fleet between 2023 and 2026.
The Paris-area totalenergies is targeting net zero by 2050 across its operations although the target for net-zero in its shipping business is muddied by being pegged to mandates by the International Maritime Organisation, which may change over the next few months.
The IMO currently targets a 50 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions across the global fleet by 2050, compared with 2008 levels, although this target is up for review next year and there is a push from companies and governments to upgrade it to 100 per cent.
SeaNews Turkey