Towards A Sustainable Oil & Gas Industry: Renewable Biofuels And LNG | Climate For Change | Ep 1/2

most of the world's greenhouse gases come from energy consumption so energy must change but renewable electricity may take decades to power every industry and the transition to cleaner energy can be daunting switching careers that was quite afraid it is a big challenge for me yet for those who dare clean energy is a chance to refuel enterprise innovation and jobs you are combating climate change and really making the world a healthier planet this is a climate for change [Music] [Music] singapore is the largest petrochemical hub in southeast asia its oil refining in petrochemical sector produced nearly half of its greenhouse gas emissions for us to also reduce the emissions from the petrochemical hubs new technologies would need to be utilized this is the story of two companies that partner the oil and gas industry as they develop groundbreaking projects that will enable more customers to refuel with cleaner energy [Music] my day actually starts quite early i reach the refinery before six o'clock in the morning [Music] walking into the refinery makes me feel at home actually because i really like to be close to the plant the refinery represents to me something that's quite close to my heart it is quite special and with all the equipment that is inside the refinery it's like a very complicated toy that i get to play with i try to understand the refinery almost like my children in that sense because each one of them have their own behavior and i actually look at them like my kids to be honest like many refineries in singapore's industrial west the nest a singapore refinery has access to global shipping routes but what sets the refinery apart is the fuel it produces renewable diesel unlike petroleum diesel which is made from crude oil nester's renewable diesel is a biofuel made from new and used vegetable oils animal fats and waste residue sustainable biofuels or renewable biofuels is definitely one of the important solutions to the complex problems we have in managing greenhouse gas emissions this renewable diesel refinery employs 300 people and staff like boon loon switched over from working in a petroleum refinery since young i've been quite fond of the smell of petrol whenever my father took up his car and in secondary school i found that petroleum chemistry was something that i'm really interested in so from 14 years old i decided that i would like to work in a refinery back in the days when i was still in school we don't really talk about the concept of sustainability making sure production is efficient is the main focus i've started my career back in 2004 with a refinery operated by one of the oil majors whereby the feedstock is from fossil fuel crude oil now moving into renewable fuels industry i would like to develop my career to be able to say that i made a difference in the whole course for for climate change the singapore refinery was founded by an oil refining company from finland neste has operations in over a dozen countries its ceo is peter vaniker [Music] the company started in 1947 and the company was actually created to give a certain independency to finland in order to have the oil products for the local markets now about 14 15 years ago the company then decided to move into a new territory and that was with new technology that was developed for renewable diesel [Music] according to neste the carbon emissions from using renewable diesel are net zero as the amount of carbon dioxide released by engines burning renewable diesel would equal the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by its raw materials earlier nester says that the fuel cycle of renewable diesel from feedstock to transport refining shipping and consumption results in up to 90 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than that of petroleum diesel currently we are producing 3.2 million tons of sustainable fuels if you look at last year relates to taking away 1.5 million cars of the roads so compensating for the co2 emissions of about 1.5 million cars we started in singapore in 2007 to build up at that time the largest renewable diesel facility in the world and then it was started up in 2010 and one of the reasons is very obvious it is a very central location singapore you have very good access because you need to get all these different wastes and residues into the plant and then the finished products you need to be able to export them so the whole logistics is one of the best in the world with its strategic location singapore has become the world's leading maritime bunkering hub thousands of ships refuel in and around singapore waters topping up with 50 million tons of marine diesel and fuel oil each year but there's a problem with marine fuel it's relatively dirty marine fuel oil is a thick black liquid which contains tar and sulfur as a result maritime transport doesn't just emit nearly a trillion tons of carbon dioxide but also tons of air pollution including soot sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides which cause lung disease and acid rain there's been tremendous pressure on reducing emissions from the shipping sector as well and different fuels need to be considered [Music] stricter emission standards placed on the maritime sector are driving up demand for ships that run on liquefied natural gas lng lng is emerging as a popular alternative to traditional fuel oils today there are about 150 lng field vessels in water that number is expected to triple in the next 18 months and about 10 to 20 percent of new builds are expected to use lng as fuel ships powered by lng emit 25 less carbon dioxide than ships running on conventional marine fuels liquefied natural gas releases less air pollution as it burns more cleanly than fuel oil [Music] the expected surge in lng adoption opens up new business opportunities keppel offshore and marine and shell have embarked on a 50-50 joint venture called fuel lng that provides lng bunkering services in singapore and the region there are three packs my name is andrea salim i'm 36 this year i'm the operations manager for fuel ng i'm basically in charge of the day-to-day operations for the shipping departments in fuel energy currently in singapore we have started serving our customers through our trucking operations through the truck-to-ship's operations we have started since 2017 but this truck to ship service is mainly to serve the harbourcraft vessels in singapore which is the smaller vessels so right now my main purpose is to actually oversee the final construction phase of the first singapore lng bunkering vessels for fuel lng when we have these vessels we will be able to start the ship to ship's operations and that will allow us to serve bigger [Music] customers fuel lng berliner will be singapore's first lng bunkering vessel much fanfare accompanied her birth and conception she was celebrated by the port authorities the singapore government and the parent companies [Music] the molina is designed to operate in singapore's busy waters where there are a thousand vessels in port at any given time when we work together with the yacht to design the ships we have several requirements that we are looking at we wanted the ships to have flexibility versatility easy to maneuver we have a long parallel body we have this bunker boom it gives us the capability to serve different and multiple type of customers whether it's on the port side or the starboard side of the vessel [Music] the balina was designed in singapore and constructed in china now she's completing final tests and commissioning at the kapil nantong shipyard near shanghai the good thing is of course working here at kapil nantung as the owner representatives has the certain advantage for me due to my previous experience in ship buildings the relationship with the couple's employees also helps some of them were my ex colleagues or so so it's easier to again uh discuss things with them based on their experience these global stress or look fast one of andreas's former colleagues is the project manager in charge of the balina he's overseen her construction for about two years he actually will come out from the main to go up to the vessel yes my name is yapchunyu so my colleagues call me yak i'm 32 years old this year and i'm from singapore for me personally i have not been in lng related projects before so it is actually quite a big challenge for me [Music] so we need to be hundred percent sure first there is no leakage we need to pick up very quickly on what is lng how it's being stored and how is it going to be processed and how we are going to mitigate the risk that accompanies it so from there we can remotely observe what is the temperature at that point as lng is extremely cold it will test the vessel with thermal stress as she sits for her final exams will the balina crack at nasty's regional headquarters in singapore a team seeks to buy raw materials from sustainable sources across the asia pacific so another option is from shanghai through the south china sea and we can ship the feedstock to singapore juliana is a regional supply manager who has been with the company for 10 years 80 of our fed stock is actually waste and residue so when we say waste one good example will be the used cooking oil for example when you cook at home there will be oil left after the cooking can you imagine in restaurants and in hotels when they do massive cooking there will be a big amount of used oil left most of biofuel or biodiesel uses really a number of feedstocks the feedstocks can range from palm oil to jatropha to algal oils it can also use waste oils from cooking or industrial practices it's really a blend of these fuel stocks everywhere check on the use looking like so far any issue while neste works with many suppliers across asia one licensed collector in singapore is homegrown startup alpha biofuels today we are here at jewel chinese singapore because my company alpha biofuels collects all the usage oil that is generated by the fmp outlets here and we send them back for processing in our plant to make them into feedstock for biodiesel processing well in a day like this we expect to collect about one to two thousand liters of used cooking oil from all the fmp outlets the volume varies from week to week and especially in the holiday seasons we tend to get a bit more when you have a restaurant in singapore after you finish frying the waste oil cannot be thrown down the drain it's actually illegal and also you will choke up your drain it cause a bomb to clear the pipes so that's where we come in we are licensed by nea to collect waste cooking oil from our commercial restaurants and uh food outlets so we started collecting new smoking oil close to fourteen years ago it was a very different time then uh usually one was not very well managed and a lot of times there were different methods which is unsafe and unhygienic in the collection for example sucking them out from gutters and grease traps in the early days uh used cooking oil can be collected by anybody a karan kuni anybody with a lorry or even a motorcycle it was not regulated a lot of the cooking oil ends up in third world countries possibly a secondhand cooking oil so this is very unethical and you know it might even cause cancer so when we came into the scene our mandate was whatever oil that we collect will be turned into biodiesel [Music] [Music] every container of used cooking oil has a unique barcode that is tacked onto it this barcode is then scanned from the kitchen as it changes hand onto our collector and again when we reach the plant it is scanned again it can be traced back to where it origins and this is what we believe to be a very sustainable practice we will weigh individual jerry can and this data is also required by nea as part of the regulation for us being a waste oil collector and this is also part of the sustainability and traceability report that we send to our nasdaq [Music] capturing all the traceability data in such minor details has actually improved our business meaning we are able to engage next day where we can actually help them to collect some of the used cooking oil in singapore we will suck everything up pump everything out into here this is our first settling point we will let it settle uh because this waste cooking oil there will be debris you know your sesame seed shortening and sometimes your odd chicken bones and stuff we let it settle together with the moisture and then we will take the top part and we will send it inside for further location some of our logistics partners ultimately they service global mncs and they are able to give their end customers a very comprehensive report of the biofuel that they use which is coming from a sustainable source so this is a typical collection so you can see even just it's actually much better than what people expect of waste cooking oil traceability is the key of sustainability actually the traceability data actually helps us to ensure that the whole supply chain is sustainable and to enforce nasty's high standard of sustainability my guys has to go through safety briefing what makes one form of biodiesel more sustainable than another depends largely on its source the traditional biofuel industry faced criticism for sourcing feedstock from sugar and oil crops competing with food supply raised demand for agricultural land and spurred deforestation so as long as we are using feedstocks that do not compete with arable land i think it's a very good opportunity for us to expand upon then come here look ready become the manifold the manifold side we can control the flow and uh observe the pressure of this coal vapour shipyard in china andreas and yap are overseeing final tests on the molina she's an lng bunkering vessel designed to deliver liquefied natural gas to ships in singapore testing for operational readiness is the job of the commissioning team my name is i'm working the cabana manager for commissioning partner we need a meet the requirement with owners testing the safer lng system from the beginning installation set testing and fully delivery for customers this is my job today's commissioning test involves cooling down the vessel's pipes and cargo tank to cryogenic temperatures the baleno must be able to withstand the thermal stress of containing its extremely cold cargo we are dealing with lng which are liquefied natural gas they are basically cryogenic natures so we are dealing with temperatures that is very low minus 157 to 162 type of temperatures so the systems the pipes the cargo tanks they have to be able to handle the kind of low temperatures this portion is a single wall part that's why it has a frost outside that also need to work under the cryogenic condition if a glass is subjected to a sudden increase in temperature the glass may crack so similar for the tank so we need to adhere strictly to the upgrade cooling down rate to prevent any unforeseen damages the return line yes yeah okay we have the sedan no more than 10 degree per hour because this insulation cannot cool very fast we need slowly slowly according to the very nice craft it took us approximately four days to actually cool down the tank from room temperature to negative 190 degrees celsius where we perform a co-test to inspect the insulation to see if there are any defects that came from the construction earlier so far there wasn't any foul so it's a it's a good pull down there are instances from other shipyards that it feels it can feel catastrophically in terms of structure failure and it can also fail where the insulation cracks and you need to do repair to the insulation [Music] right now in singapore requirement the door if you open i cannot start engine or ignition if the tanks have certain issue we can't basically do our service so in the sense this is a very critical part of the vessels so we need to ensure that this tank is always able to maintain the low temperature of the lng lng's natural gas vapors are flammable and can be ignited with a spark so today's cooldown is performed using liquid nitrogen instead of lng because nitrogen is inert if there's any leakage or any malfunction it would allow us to identify the fault and ratify them under a safer condition as compared to using lng directly so we use this liquid nitrogen slowly cooling down the bunker boom should enable the ballina to pipe lng to ships of varying heights as the boom will carry cryogenic liquid its maneuverability must be tested under extreme cold will give us the flexibility to serve a wide range of customers so far with the tamworth minus 120 we still testing the bang boom live contract and avadon is a perfect so we will continue the putting on until the designing temperature 162 openly successful of 162 degrees according to our event is perfect when we finish this one we can see really we started loading rng so the cooling down process is one of the important milestones for the construction of the vessels i think i'm quite excited in the sense that we are one step closer of delivering the vessels the team can celebrate but the berliner faces its most risky test yet gassing up with lng the fire department is standing by in case something were to happen it would usually be catastrophic [Music] the nest a singapore refinery processes an ever-growing range of raw materials lester's portfolio consists of more than 10 different types of renewable raw materials and these are the samples that we have this is used in oil for example waste animal fats and waste fish fats and regardless of the different raw material that is put into our processing unit that's where the magic happens whatever comes out is clean and clear sustainable renewable diesel performance wise can have done quite well the varying feedstocks that we actually take in you need to be flexible enough to tackle all the problems that you face every day but that comes with the excitement of it i like making things the idea that i can produce something useful of something that is of no value and this refinery does exactly that so the process for manufacturing renewable diesel in the state it's largely in four steps the first step is to collect the waste and residue streams which are feedstock coming into the plant the second step is to go through pre-treatment whereby we remove the impurities which will harm the next stage of the process then we go through the next process which is the nested proprietary technology to convert feedstock to high-grade diesel and finally then it is the logistics and transportation where we actually deliver the final products to our customers currently in the renewable fuels our major markets or the west coast in the united states as well as british columbia and canada but of course also europe because you have very good regulation you have a drive i mean to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions so the environment is very favorable for our products through 10 years of innovation and investment the neste singapore refinery has nearly doubled its annual output of renewable diesel to 1.3 million tons now neste is massively expanding the refinery seeking not just to increase its production but to broaden its range of products and capabilities an experienced and steady hand directs the expansion project my name is patrio kiran and i'm originally from finland but now i have been in singapore more than five years estimate in 2018 towards the end of the year resistant to invest more than 1.4 billion euros into this expansion of singapore refinery and now we are expanding this refinery so there will be more than 1 million tons of sustainable aviation fuel there will be also a possibility to produce feedstocks for chemicals and polymers the expanded refinery will be able to turn waste vegetable oil and animal fats into a range of products renewable diesel fuels cars trucks buses trains and ships renewable jet fuel serves the aviation industry and renewable polymers can be made into plastic we're also expanding them into asia pacific we have signed our first asian customer the japanese airline a a which is one of the leading airlines and of course we're expanding that so we'd be very happy i mean at a certain point in time also to have singapore airlines in the portfolio of customers that are buying sustainably produced aviation fuel as more and more biofuels companies and products come online i think more and more aviation sector companies would switch to biofuels because most biofuels would claim to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent over its life cycle so from a sustainability perspective it makes sense for a lot of companies in both aviation or shipping sector or even ground transportation to use biofuels to meet their sustainability targets at the keppel nantung shipyard in china singapore's first lng bunkering vessel the balina awaits her final test after her cooldown with liquid nitrogen was successful [Music] the project's team takes the chance to celebrate i don't think i can handle for kids who is helping you take care of the kids no problem for you four years we are already almost at the end of the project right so i think i just wanted to go together with the project so i think it's good to you know celebrate certain things that uh to achieve this milestone in that sense right this one don't know how many months [Music] many of the team members from singapore are homesick as the project and the covet 19 pandemic have kept them abroad for many months longer than usual when you are alone that is the time when when you start to think about your family your wife i came over to china on the first anniversary of our wedding but that's the something that i i need to make up to her for when i'm back in singapore i've come to more than nine months already i also want to back to shidapura i want to make my family my mom my son my wife and her family [Music] but in the weekends of course i'll make sure that i catch up sometimes with the families and kids basketball yeah i'm already here in the last two months or so in that sense so i think they have especially my wife i think she has made a lot of sacrifice in that sense my case is also in growing stage so i think it's not easy for herself alone to take care of two kids so i think that part i have to thank her and she's been supportive in what i have done or what i have done so far in at least in my career switching careers to a so-called new business lng business is something that i think initially i was quite afraid but i think she supported me and she say that you should do what you believe in if you believe in the business you should go for it now depends where we can go the next day trucks filled with lng arrived to gas up the balina filling her 7500 cubic meter capacity with lng is the most risky process she'll face in the yard as lng vapor is flammable and can be explosive in confined spaces ivan how much lng is left in the fourth eighty percent truck over in the fourth truck the race actually peaks when uh we start the lng bunker process we will need to form up a 200 meter radius restricted zone and inside this 200 meter zone we have a 50 meter hazardous zone only essential personnel equipped with explosion proof equipment and also dawning the anti-static coveralls allow to enter so this is the most critical part of the operation in case something were to happen it would usually be catastrophic how long one for the change over to the fifth truck two hours before we change over to the two hours thank you thank you so in terms of safety measures the city fire department and also the marine fire department they all came in and offered the help with the assistance from all these government agencies we managed to complete the operation in a very safe and controlled manner after tiring night long work the belina passes her final test in the yard this year amid the copenhagen crisis so finally tomorrow we're going for the trials after about two years of the project from the design stage until now and quite a long journey to reach this stage feeling quite relieved at the same time quite excited because that will also mean that we will soon start our first bunkering business in singapore so so yeah i can't wait to bring this vessel back to singapore [Music] looking forward that is a successful trial and a well-deserved break after that so that we can all go home and see our loved ones what activities do we have here today so uh we've just completed demobilizing our 1600 and grain okay okay requires quite a bit of planning but i think it's going quite well at the moment the nest a singapore refineries expansion project is scheduled to launch in 2022 and be fully operational by the end of 2023 the expanded refinery would make new products including a million tons of renewable jet fuel but the project has faced challenges and delays in 2020 because of the covet 19 pandemic we have been having deliveries of equipment and material that has been arriving from over 25 countries so we are impacted about this core with 19 situation as it has been appearing in many countries so here we have an example of one piece of equipment that has been transported here and we are installing these yellow staircases and everything and only when those are installed then there's going to be a large spring that is going to be taking this and moving it into position [Music] but i think the situation here in singapore has been improving very rapidly and now we are ramping up the construction activities at the site [Music] expanding the singapore refinery isn't just a matter of constructing new hardware it involves doubling its 300 strong workforce hiring and training and influx of manpower right now the the situation is a bit peculiar i have half my team supporting the current running plans and i've have the other team supporting the singapore expansion project in the startup and commissioning activities bioengineers are actually the trainers for the technicians who will be operating the new units in future if we hire people we always look at are they inspired by the purpose creating healthier planets if they are not inspired but they are extremely smart we don't hire them what we are doing is highly sophisticated so you need to have very smart people with an excellent education and the education system in singapore is one of the best in the world and we have always found the right people we're operating by the way also the entire asia pacific region in our headquarters in singapore we have received from the government very good support from the edb so that environment the people the education system as well as the logistics the accessibility were the three major elements why we chose singapore in 2007 but also in 2018 when we decided on the new facility that we are currently building [Music] uh attention please attention please vocals are participating in the sea trial please decent park at 4 30 you'll have a roll call and a safety [Music] tests at the keppel nantung shipyard the balina is ready for about a month of trials at sea if she passes them she will at last become singapore's first ever lng bunkering vessel she will sail east along the yangtze river till she meets the east china sea she will then head south towards joshua where sea trials will commence the main focus would be to test out the cargo handling system and the fuel gas supply system whatever that you already upload it will be kept inside the computer so i'll be taking over the command of the vessel after delivery our vessel is designed basically to give bunkers to other vessels so the thing is the vessel should be capable in maneuvering in any condition and can be controlled easily stop if any emergency develops [Music] so over the course of the past few days we managed to finish all the tests and recorded the results and with the owner and the class witness we meet the specification number two can see from the city they have reported back that if there's no major issues and the performance was good as the days pass as we finish test by test i think that part i can become more relaxed in the sense that yeah it's almost finishing [Music] after sea trial will be the wrapping up of the delivery process and handing over to the owner and last of all we will do a flag change for the vessel it's a symbolic event as the vessel will lower the chinese flag and raise the singapore flag so it's like a transition of ownership from the shipyard to the owner upon delivery palina will begin her journey back to singapore there's mixed feelings elation is one of them it's like watching your child grow up and on the day of his or her wedding so mix feelings mixed feelings in the near future when we are able to see the vessel in operation providing lng bunker to other vessels in the busy streets of singapore i think it meant a lot to me personally after overseeing the bellina's delivery andreas will take a long-awaited flight home to take charge of a future operations in singapore it's also a new milestone for me there's a sense of nervousness because this means that we are also one step closer to our first operations in singapore it's exciting but i don't want to be overly excited there's a lot of expectations for the vessel but i am confident that we can do these operations well so when the vessel with singapore you will undergo the inspections by the authorities before we will be issued the official harbourcraft license then we'll do our preparation for our first buffering operation in singapore moving towards a greener future i still see lng as one of the most sustainable solutions for the maritime industries lng vessels may emit 25 percent less carbon dioxide and less pollution than those running on traditional marine fuels but liquefied natural gas is still a fossil fuel it's mainly methane a potent greenhouse gas the need of the day is to be fossil fuel free lng is definitely considered to be a short-term transitional fuel so in some shipping lines would switch to lng while others may consider prudent to use other alternatives such as biofuels in the interim while lng may be transitional the lessons gained handling this cryogenic liquid on ships could inform maritime transport of liquid hydrogen a zero carbon fuel that's even colder [Music] hopefully the experience we have with handling cryogenic sources like lng would be transferable to some parts of the hydrogen economy hydrogen is clearly seen as the fuel of the future the corporation that designed and built the balina aims to use its lng know-how to fuel research into hydrogen this is keppel and ema's new floating living lab it will test hydrogen and clean energy storage solutions for harbor vessels and the grid the lab will mainly run on lng refueled by the balina when the floating living lab is being deployed this would be the largest energy storage systems in singapore to date and it would be able to power up to 600 hdb flats daily i think the role of hydrogen as energy storage will also become more and more important as we deploy more and more renewables onto our electricity grids and by utilization of new technologies this will even increase our brand to being a petrochemical hub that promotes sustainable practices around the world we are focusing a lot on the difficult to decarbonize industries where you need the internal combustion engine it will take a lot of time until they will be able to be replaced by fuel cells electrification hydrogen and these type of technologies you need a lot of solutions that are available today because otherwise we cannot wait until we are 2050 to start decarbonizing to start reducing the co2 emissions in those industries i am a firm believer of sustainability what more can i ask for to link my passion with what i really believe in which is being close to the refinery and contributing directly to the fight against climate change i feel very proud and there is huge job satisfaction because you understand that sustainability is not just a tech line it's really a commitment the effort that you are playing your part combating climate change and really making the world a healthier planet for our children [Music] you

Channel: CNA Insider

Views: 122,996

Keywords: CNA, CNA Insider, Channel NewsAsia, Asian perspective, Asian news, Climate For Change, Singapore, climate change, environment, sustainability, global warming, greenhouse gas, carbon emission, clean energy, green energy, renewable, biofuels, biodiesel, Neste, refinery, engineering, LNG, shipping, FueLNG Bellina, Finland, Keppel, petrochemical

Id: HHhut15HBZE

Length: 47min 53sec (2873 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 27 2021