Nippon Yusen, Japan’s biggest shipping company, is planning to increase its fleet of liquefied natural gas tankers by around 50% by early 2029 to meet rising global demand for the super-chilled fuel.
"We need to expand,” CEO Takaya Soga said in an interview on Bloomberg TV’s Chief Future Officer program, citing an uptick in inquiries. "Everybody is looking at energy transformation from the viewpoint of decarbonization,” and LNG is an important part of that, he added.
Gas has been touted as an energy source to help transition away from more polluting fossil fuels such as coal, while providing backup for intermittent renewables. LNG output, meanwhile, is slated to surge from next year as projects from the U.S. to Qatar ramp up, with Shell — the top trader of the fuel — expecting consumption to jump by about 60% into 2040.
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