Gazprom and the operator of the Baltic Sea port of Rostock, Hafen-Entwicklungs-gesellschaft Rostock, have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the LNG market.
The cooperation will focus on the development, marketing, and usage of LNG in road transport and shipping in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The companies share the long-term goal of providing the infrastructure required to bunker LNG, thereby creating an additional sales channel for LNG, Gazprom Germania said in a statement.
Establishing such infrastructure at Germany’s largest multi-purpose Baltic Sea port will allow LNG to be delivered to Rostock – and thereby to Germany. The port of Rostock wiil provide the necessary port space.
Gazprom is also investigating transporting the LNG from intermediate storage to independent gas utilities by truck and supplying it for use in natural gas vehicles. The LNG will be shipped from the planned liquefaction plant in the Gulf of Finland.
Stricter environmental standards will apply to shipping in the North Sea and Baltic Sea from 2015. Under the new standards, shipping fuel will be allowed to contain just 0.1 % sulphur instead of the 1.0 % currently permitted.