Statoil has entered into an agreement with Danish-German ferry company Scandlines, to supply fuel worth about DKK 40 million per year.
Valid for one year at a time, the contract covers 40,000 tonnes of low-sulphur oil to fuel ferries running between Denmark and Germany.
Peter Dam-Hendriksen, manager for aviation, marine and special products in Statoil's Nordic energy unit, says that the deal represents a breakthrough in building up a market for selling low-sulphur oil as fuel for ferries in the Baltic area.
Fuel normally used by Danish ferries contains up to 2.5 per cent sulphur. The ferries between Rødby in Denmark and Puttgarden in Germany will now run on fuel with a sulphur content no higher than one per cent. Statoil's Kalundborg refinery will supply the fuel.
Statoil currently covers 60 per cent of the shipping market in Denmark, with the fishing fleet and ferry market as the main buyers.
Scandlines will be the second largest customer in this market behind Molslinjen, a ferry company sailing between the island of Zealand and the Jutland peninsula.