EnerSea Transport LLC (EnerSea) announced that Mercuria Holdings Limited, a principal of the Tanker Pacific Group, purchased an equity stake in EnerSea. This investment positions Tanker Pacific as a strategic partner in the development of EnerSea's natural gas transportation and storage projects.
Tanker Pacific will assist EnerSea in the development of its compressed natural gas (CNG) marine transport projects by providing offshore gas storage facilities and services using EnerSea's proprietary VOTRANSTM technology. The Tanker Pacific relationship also provides for further access to capital for EnerSea projects. Other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"As the gas sector matures, it is clear that CNG will emerge as a complementary solution to LNG allowing monetization of potentially hundreds of stranded gas fields that do not justify the capital investment required for LNG," said Samuel Norton, spokesperson for Mecuria. "Solutions such as CNG marine transport will become essential in order to increase the supply of economically attractive natural gas for energy-hungry markets."
"We reviewed several solutions for CNG transportation and found EnerSea to be the clear leader in the emerging CNG transport sector. We are excited to be involved with them and to support their efforts to rapidly grow this new industry," continued Norton.
"We are delighted to have Tanker Pacific on our team," said Enersea’s Managing Director Paul Britton. "They have a strong track record in the tanker and terminaling sectors, and we look forward to their active support to further accelerate EnerSea’s growth."