A clean slate for Gulf refiners
The region's refiners have less than three years to play their ace card as the IMO implements new sulphur limits on bunker fuel from 2020
The biggest surprise following the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) ruling last October was that anyone was surprised; reducing the sulphur cap for bunker fuel from 3.5% to 0.5% has been on the regulatory table for nearly a decade. Sulphur caps of 4.5% from 1997 and then 3.5% from 2012 also gave refiners and their slow-but-steady attitude a heads up. Still, many are now hurriedly reviewing their crude slates and balance sheets to try—and it is an ongoing, not guaranteed, effort—to keep pace with the biggest shift in the shipping industry since coal-powered vessels crossed the world's oceans nearly a century ago. Only the complex refineries producing a broad crude blend and an abil
Also in this section
7 May 2024
Ample stocks and a soft demand outlook will limit how much LNG Europe can import this year
3 May 2024
Upcoming elections are likely to deliver a win for the party of president Andres Lopez Obrador, but analysts differ over to what degree his successor will stick to his energy policies
2 May 2024
Faster-than-expected economic growth fails to mask macro imbalances and shifting structural oil product trends
1 May 2024
Energean CEO Mathios Rigas looks to results of critical Anchois appraisal well