The Path to Low Sulfur Bunkers

摘要

In an effort to achieve a major reduction of maritime hydrocarbon emissions, the global initiative to lower sulfur levels in bunker fuels will create considerable challenges for diesel consumers as well as the shipping and refining industries. The shift will have a significant impact on the supply of both diesel and residual fuel. This will put upward pressure on diesel prices for all users and bunker prices for maritime operators in the next decade and raise the vulnerability of the shipping industry to competition from rail and trucking. The larger issue however, is the potential of an oversupplied residual fuel market, which will lower prices and could affect refinery operating rates worldwide.