Israel’s Oil Refineries (ORL) have delivered its first cargo of compliant 0.5% sulphur content marine fuel, in line with IMO’s upcoming rules. Namely, the 197,000 barrel per day refinery loaded its first 30,000 tonne cargo of the low sulphur fuel.
ORL now joins several other refiners that recently developed new marine fuels to comply with the new regulation, Reuters reports.
In fact, oil majors Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and Royal Dutch Shell are developing very low sulphur fuels to comply with the 0.5% requirement.
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Specifically ExxonMobil informed that it has added another marine lubricant for compliance with IMO 2020 sulphur cap. Mobilgard M420 is a 20 BN oil that has been tested for use in medium speed engines and it has received No Objection Letters from engine builders, including MAN ES and Wartsila.
In addition, Shell informed that, in order to help operators prepare, it is offering trials for its very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) in key ports. Shell has also launched a new two-stroke engine cylinder oil specifically for use with engines running on VLSFO.
In fact, Shell has already conducted 19 successful trials of the 0.5% sulphur fuel with shipowners at key ports globally and will be performing more trials in New Orleans, Rotterdam, and Singapore.
Moreover, Chevron announced that it will bring an IMO-compliant 0.5% sulphur shipping fuel blend to the market by the end of Q3. As Chevron Fuels Technologist Monique Vermeire commented to Reuters, ‘If the shipping company is willing to try it out now we can make it available, but not for continuous purchase.’
Finally, BP has also informed that it is ready to sell a very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) ahead of the 2020 sulphur cap which bans polluting fuels for the shipping industry. The company now aims to retail the new 0.5% sulphur VLSFO worldwide.
