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Absolutely, Tuckman.
Morocco - pure industrial application (heat for rotary calcinators).
MSC - marine propulsion application (large, slow-speed 2S marine diesel).
Panama/Honduras - medium-sized power application (medium-speed Wartsila 4S power gensets)
Mexico - longer opportunity, but pure in-refinery application (likely heat)
You can see the pattern: diversity of sectors; diversity of applications and technical implementations; diversity of countries and counterparties.
Still, no guarantee it'll work out, but it's definitely better than the old "1 or 2 megaprojects" approach which left us hanging after various unfortunate incidents.
Lets talk some logical sense on this Mearsk/methanol factor that's causing some people to have wet paper towel hands.
As some have pointed out, methanol is a future marine based fuel not a now based fuel. One, (Green) methanol production as it currently stands is in its infancy, not to mention very expensive and will take a many years, possibly moving into decades before production could ever meet the needs of Mearsk's full fleet, let alone the whole worlds marine sector.
Secondly, many people are completely missing the point of QFI and their drive towards "Transition fuels". Mearsks drive for methanol as stated is a "future" fuel for their "future" fleet, not their current fleet. Their current fleet are not designed for pure methanol and it would not be financially viable to gut their entire current fleet to install engines to run on methanol.
Mearsk has a fleet of over 700 ships all with a shelf life of 30-40 years or more and all need HFO or a version of it to run, it will take decades to replace them all with new future fuel faring ships. I have no doubt going forward their future ships will be hybrids or ships that run on pure methanol, but right now they have 700+ ships that also need to become greener to meet their targets and how on earth are they supposed to do that? Msar/BioMsar have not been completely ruled out by Mearsk, they have simply just stayed quiet on the matter, what you are reading regarding methanol is how Mearsk wants to move forward in the future and not their current HFO guzzling fleet which needs to be dealt with too.
As for MSC, they are taking the initiative for their current ships with Msar/BioMsar and I have no doubt their future ships may not even incorporate Msar but may incorporate a future blend of BioMsar or something else. There is still decades of transition before any company be it MSC or Mearsk eventually meet their green targets and QFI is there for that transition period and no doubt they will be there afterwards to, albeit with a more advanced blend of BioMsar.
If you cannot see the difference between the transition stage and the future fuel stage then you need to do some more serious DD on how QFI fits into all this, because if you are getting wet paper towel hands on QFI now over the future use of methanol or any other future fuel then you aren't fully understanding what it is you are investing in with QFI.
Also throw in the mix that we are just not solely reliant on MSC for our future, their are other avenues, paths in industry and power that could potentially be not far away for us to go down. It’s not Jam tomorrow but maybe Jam in the next few years if all goes to plan. It’s all about patience but yes they do have to deliver progress even before this year end.
Sorry Toby, but if you believe a word Maersk say, then more fool you. These guys flip flop all the time.
I don't know how anyone could reasonably expect the largest shipping company in the world to trial only one solution. Bud Darr, their leader in this area, has said they expect to commercially adopt multiple solutions.
If you think MSAR/bioMSAR is a good fit for MSC's business needs, then we're in with a good opportunity. Not guaranteed, but I seriously doubt anyone thinks that.
Green Methanol is extremely expensive at the moment; mostly because of the very significant energy requirements (e.g. green e-methanol).
BTW, QFI has indicated that methanol can be blended into the bioMSAR mixture. So likely an interesting additional feedstock (if the pricing is good enough).
Just to defend QFI shareholders for a moment...
There's a long way to go yet. But, I would say everyone I know personally from the QFI community is *well aware* of the risks, and they are simply accepting of the need to 'wait for results'. So, not complacent, but just aware that other players vying for a slice of this vast new energy space isn't necessarily a problem -- Quadrise are in the mix to get into the market before the final decisions are made about which fuels are going to become the de facto standards for the foreseeable future.
Vince 72
MSC are haven't even started the trials yet, so certainly aren't committed. There is nothing stopping those with scrubbers continuing to use HFO and not taking up MSAR/BioMSAR. The methanol news item indicates dates. See extract below:
" The letter of intent with Debo would see the Danish shipping giant purchase 200,000 tons of green methanol annually from the Chinese company, with plans to launch commercial production in September 2024.
The deal follows Maersk’s partnership with China’s CIMC ENRIC and Green Technology Bank, along with Denmark-based Ørsted and European Energy, WasteFuel in the US, and Swiss-based methanol producer Proman, to scale up green methanol production with the intent of sourcing at least 730,000 tons of fuel per year by the end of 2025.
In January this year, Maersk pledged to reach net zero emission targets by 2040 across its entire business, including scopes 1, 2 and 3. The carrier has twelve 16,000 teu dual-fuelled container vessels able to operate on carbon neutral methanol under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for delivery in 2024 and 2025.
Maersk is also working with five other companies to establish Asia’s first green e-methanol plant, which converts captured biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) into green e-methanol. The pilot plant will be set up in Singapore pending the successful conclusion of feasibility studies by the end of 2022 with a minimum production capacity of 50,000 tons per annum.
In related news, one of Maersk’s future fuel suppliers, European Energy, has inked a ten-year deal with Canada’s Anaergia for the supply of up to 60,000 tonnes per year of liquefied biogenic CO2 for the production of green e-methanol".
QFI are not as advanced with production plans for MSAR/Bio MSAR. I hope you are all correct, but I for one am now very concerned about future prospects and a little surprised that so many seem complacent and do not see this as a threat.