Reuters: Reluctant Refiners Threaten Anti-Pollution Efforts in Shipping

“Global efforts to drastically reduce toxic sulphur emissions in the shipping industry will likely be delayed for years due to the reluctance of refiners to invest billions of dollars to produce cleaner burning fuel. The UN shipping agency, International Maritime Organization (IMO), has set a 2020 deadline for the maritime community to slash the amount of sulphur burned by the global fleet, blamed by some for thousands of deaths every year. . . . If the cap is imposed, refiners will have to scramble for ways of using up millions of tonnes of the fuel. Global residual fuel production in 2010 is estimated at around 570 million tonnes with residual bunker consumption at around 190-200 million tonnes, according to a study by energy consultants Poten & Partners.”