Sailing Into The Unknown

13 Dec 2019: Heavy Fuel Oil is the Heaviest Commercial Fuel that Can be Obtained From Crude Oil, i.e., Heavier Than Gasoline, Jet Fuel and Diesel.

Traditional bunker fuel is almost literally the “bottom of the barrel”; the only products denser than High Sulphur Fuel Oil (HSFO) are carbon black feedstock and asphalt. Over time, mainly due to stricter environmental regulations, the use of fuel oil in power generation and as a heating oil has been significantly reduced. As a result, bunker fuel for the global shipping industry became the dominant use of heavy fuel oil in the world. However, this situation is about to change dramatically as a result of IMO 2020.

According to one estimate (the IEA), demand for HSFO, the main vessel fuel since the 1960’s will fall from 3.5 Mb/d to 1.4 Mb/d in just one year as most vessels owners switch to low sulfur compliant fuels. Fuel oil has not only powered the shipping industry for decades, it has also been an important source of ton-mile demand for tankers.

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