Korea Gas Corp. said Wednesday it is expanding its liquefied natural gas bunkering infrastructure to respond to the global shift to cleaner ship fuel.

LNG bunkering is the process of transferring gas to a ship for use as fuel.

The state-run natural gas company said it has recently built an LNG carrier SM JEJU LNG2 equipped with ship-to-ship bunkering capabilities. Also, as the ship sails between Jeju Island and Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, it has installed four loading arms -- a pipe that transfers LNG from a tank to bunkering vessels -- at terminals located in Tongyeong.

Kogas’ efforts to bolster LNG infrastructure comes amid more stringent global regulations on sulfur. Starting this year, the International Maritime Organization limited the sulfur cap of marine fuel to 0.5 percent from the previous 3.5 percent, intent to promote cleaner ship fuel. Also, North American and European coasts are designated as emission control areas, where the sulfur cap is 0.1 percent.

Compared to conventional ship fuel, LNG can reduce sulfur oxide emissions by 100 percent, nitrogen oxide emissions by 15 to 80 percent, CO2 emissions by 20 percent and fine dust by 91 percent.

According to Kogas, global demand for LNG bunkering will reach between 20 million to 30 million metric tons by 2030. Multinational energy firms Shell and Total estimated that LNG bunkering will account for 20 to 30 percent of total ship fuel market by 2030.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)