Le fuel maritime peu soufré, consequences

[energy_isere]

L'IEA pas inquiète sur l'approvisionnement de fioul low sulfur.

IEA: There Won’t Be A Low-Sulfur Fuel Oil Crisis

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Jan 16, 2020

Supply of shipping fuels compliant with the stricter, low-sulfur, regulations are growing at a fast pace and are at adequate levels at the key hubs around the world, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday.

According to the new rules by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), only 0.5-percent or lower sulfur fuel oil should be used on ships beginning January 1, 2020, unless said ships have installed the so-called scrubbers—systems that remove sulfur from exhaust gas emitted by bunkers—so they can continue to use high-sulfur fuel oil (HSFO).

In previous months, refiners, traders, and buyers have been bracing for what was expected to be “the single largest oil market disruptor” and there were concerns that supply of low-sulfur fuels, especially very-low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO), could not be enough.

The IEA allayed those concerns today, saying that early data shows that supply is rising fast.

“We are starting to see the first data on the transition and, it appears that deliveries of the new VLSFO bunkers are increasing fast,” the IEA said in its monthly Oil Market Report, as carried by Reuters.

“Although there are initial local difficulties as might be expected from such a complex global change, ship operators, products suppliers and ports have so far coped well,” the Paris-based agency said in its report.

“As the new IMO rules are introduced, cracks for compliant VLSFO made large gains and HSFO in Singapore drew some support on demand from ships fitted with scrubbers,” the IEA noted.

Due to the new IMO rules, demand for heavy and sweet crude grades is high, as those are the most suited for processing into low-sulfur fuel for ships.

Strong demand for heavy-sweet crude grades has resulted in a recent spot tender in which a crude from Australia sold for close to US$100 a barrel, making it what traders said was probably the most expensive crude in the world.

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News ... risis.html

[energy_isere]

Analysis: How low-sulphur shipping rules are affecting global warming

3 July 2023 carbonbrief

In 2020, international regulations to reduce air pollution from shipping imposed strict limits on the sulphur content of marine fuels.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules have had some success in improving public health. Global emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) – a health-damaging air pollutant – have dropped by about 10% as a result.

But the shift to low-sulphur shipping fuel has had an additional consequence.

Sulphur particles contained in ships’ exhaust fumes have been counteracting some of the warming coming from greenhouse gases. But lowering the sulphur content of marine fuel has weakened the masking effect, effectively giving a boost to warming.

Some researchers have proposed that the drop in SO2 as a result of the IMO’s clean air regulations could be behind a recent spike in global sea surface temperature.

Carbon Brief analysis shows that the likely side-effect of the 2020 regulations to cut air pollution from shipping is to increase global temperatures by around 0.05C by 2050. This is equivalent to approximately two additional years of emissions.

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https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-ho ... l-warming/