IMO 2020

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has ruled that, from 1 January 2020, marine sector emissions in international waters be slashed. The marine sector will have to reduce sulphur emissions by over 80% by switching to lower sulphur fuels. The current maximum fuel oil sulphur limit of 3.5 weight percent (wt%) will fall to 0.5 wt%.

“IMO 2020 regulations will see the largest reduction in the sulphur content of a transportation fuel undertaken at one time. The marine sector is responsible for half of global fuel oil demand and the regulations therefore have the potential to be highly disruptive to the pricing and availability of compliant fuels. The new legislation will clearly impact the refining, bunkering and shipping industries, which will all be faced with fundamental changes to the way fuel is refined and transported. It is a seismic shift that will present many challenges to the refining and marketing companies and is being felt right through the supply chain.”
Graham Eden, Commercial Director, Fuel and Specialty Additives, Multisol

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“IMO 2020 represents one of the greatest challenges to the refining industry in recent years and Multisol and its partners are well positioned to support the refiners with effective solutions in areas such as the transportation of crude and fuel components, asphaltene and wax management, lubricity and combustion. These are all areas of real concern for refiners as we work with them to meet the challenges ahead. Multisol has the approach and Infineum product portfolio to develop world-class solutions. These industry-leading products by Infineum, further reinforce the company’s capabilities,  technical excellence  and insight.”
Graham Eden, Commercial Director, Fuel and Specialty Additives, Multisol

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Speaking to Infineum Insight, Tim Wilson, Principal Specialist for Fuels, Lubes and Emissions at Lloyd’s Register, has expressed his views on issues arising from the new legislation and the cross-industry cooperation that will be needed to address them.

“Quite clearly, the compliant fuel option is the one that’s going to be dominant. And 95% of the world’s fleet will go down that route; it might shrink to 90% as we go into 2020. And the price differences between the high sulphur fuels and the compliant .5% sulphur fuels, makes it attractive to larger ship operators to put an exhaust gas cleaning system on. When they can see the return on investment, it might be one or two years, possibly three, then they would still consider going down that route, because where money is saved, money is earned.

The industry as a whole is very strong-willed to be compliant. And talking to a wide range of ship owners, their intent and their will is to be compliant. The question is, it’s driven by commercial pressures as to when do they actually start using .5, and how close can they get to December 31st before they have to use .5. Why do I say that? It’s going to cost them more. It’s a more costly fuel than the fuel they’re using today, whether it’s $100, $200, $300 a ton more costly, multiply that by the number of tons they use, which could be anything from 30 to 200 tons a day. It’s a significant decision as to when to make the switch over.

We believe as an industry that this is manageable, but all parties, all stakeholders, need to understand the implications of not taking this seriously. Compatibility’s a big issue, but if you can segregate and avoid mixing during bunkering, then you’ve resolved that problem. You still have to manage it on board, but you don’t have to manage it during bunkering. So, that’s the main issue, some ships are not well designed and it may be time to build extra fuel tanks. It may be time to put coolers in; a little bit of investment will go a long way.”

Infineum: The IMO 2020 Challenge

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Infineum’s effective solutions for the transportation of crude and fuel components, asphaltene and wax management, lubricity and combustion.

Products to meet the IMO 2020 Challenge