The National Iranian Tanker Company is planning to renovate its tanker fleet and increase the number of ships to carry liquefied gas cargo, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the managing director said on Saturday.
“We are preparing one of the world’s largest tanker fleet to make a strong comeback in international markets, including Europe,” IRNA quoted Sirous Kianersi as saying.
He added that the state-run company plans to expand LNG tradeThe National Iranian Tanker Company is planning to renovate its tanker fleet and increase in cooperation with international companies.
According to Kianersi, NITC owns 69 tankers, which can carry up to 15.5 million tons of petroleum.
The Oil Ministry has been studying several options for entering the international LNG market that reportedly has a 30% share in the total global gas trade.
Ali Kardor, deputy oil minister and the chief executive of National Iranian Oil Company, told Mehr News Agency this month his company is studying plans to establish small-scale and floating LNG units with 10 million tons in annual production capacity.
"The proposed units would each have an output of between 500,000 tons and 2 million tons per year."
Another plan is to increase LPG vessels.
“We have a limited number of LPG carriers which need to be expanded for a bigger presence in international markets,” Kianersi said.
FLNG Plans
The NITC chief also said that the company has devised plans to develop the fledgling LNG industry in Iran, hoping that talks on building FLNG units with unnamed companies would come to fruition in the near future.
According to reports, Iran is in negotiations with several Norwegian companies to set up an FLNG unit in the Persian Gulf.
"We are in the final stages of negotiations to hand over the ownership of an FLNG project to a Norwegian investor," Kardor said in a statement last month.
An FLNG facility is a seaborne structure that can produce, liquefy, store and transfer LNG at sea before ships carry it directly to markets.
According to reports, Belgian government officials have also been in talks over an FLNG project, while an agreement was reportedly reached with France late last year to build the country's first floating LNG unit in the Persian Gulf.
Kianersi underscored that to expand its tanker fleet, NITC has prepared a five-year development plan, based on which the armada is to be rehabilitated with a focus on foreign markets.
The company has a five-year plan to replace aging tankers and vessels.
Regarding difficulties in gas export through pipeline, including financial and operational constraints as well as political issues, some experts say converting natural gas into LNG is a more affordable and a more feasible method of for gas export to distant destinations .
Iran has close to 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, which is around 18% of the global gas reserves.
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