The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) may be open to processing bunkering licenses by the first half of 2018, suggests its Assistant Director, Bunker Services Department.
‘We have not been issuing any new licenses recently, except for one specific to gasoil, because we want to understand the impact of the mass flowmeter (MFM) on the market first,’ says Md Elfian Harun at IBIA Convention 2017.
‘We are doing a review of the application criteria to make our licensing regime more robust and most likely by the first half of next year [2018] we may start processing applications again.’
Harun, meanwhile, explained the differences between the license termination of Panoil Petroleum and Universal Energy. Panoil Petroleum got its license revoked, while Universal Energy’s license was not renewed.
‘Most bunker license here [in Singapore] is valid for a year so when the MPA revoke a license this means we will come in the middle of your licensing period and say: Stop we will not allow you to complete your license until the end of your term.’
According to Harun, Panoil Petroleum was discovered making modifications to the pipelines on several of its barges; these applications were made after the MFM (between the meter to the vessel manifold) so the MFM system is not able to detect the oil being siphoned out.
‘So that is one of the area where we have strengthened and we advised surveyors on how to prevent such occurrences in the future. We are also making sure to cover such loopholes and provide possible solutions and improve TR 48:2015 to tighten this gap,’ he notes.
Under the bunker licensing accreditation scheme, a supplier is subject to demerit points should they not comply to the bunkering procedures of SS: 600 and TR 48:2017.
‘Universal Energy was involved in a number of deliveries where they didn’t comply with bunkering procedures and all the demerit points chalked up to a point where MPA decided not to renew its license when it was up for renewal,’ says Harun.
To recap, MPA revoked the bunker craft operator licence of Panoil Petroleum in August; it also decided not to renew the bunker supplier licences of Panoil Petroleum and Universal Energy; the latest is the termination of Transocean Oil’s bunker supplier and bunker craft operator licences in November.
This means three, out of Singapore’s top ten bunker suppliers by volume, had licences removed in 2017. The Singapore market officially started MFM bunkering operations for fuel oil this year.
Image credit: Freeimages.com/Krisztian Hoffer
Launch of bunker price service is the first of three business development phases Argus has planned for the Singapore bunker market, says Business Development – Asia.
The application for Grant Thornton Singapore to become a judicial manager of Xihe Holdings and four of its subsidiaries will be heard on 13 November.
Straits has obtained approval in its recent AGM on 24 June 2021 to change its name from Straits Inter Logistics Berhad to Straits Energy Resources Berhad.
The Spanish company which starts operating from 1 January is a spin-off from Transcoma Shipping subsidiary Transcoma Bunkers.
Bunker sales in 2022 included about 140,000 tonnes of biofuel blends over more than 90 biofuel bunkering operations, surpassing the 16,000 tonnes in LNG bunker sales.
The refinery reportedly produced 7.1 million metric tonnes of low sulphur marine fuel in Q1 2020 and 50,000 mt in March in order to match market demands, it said.
Transferred shares of 40 subsidiaries to BVI firm after tribunal awarded claims in favour of Trinity Seatrading; YSPL has also filed a civil complaint against DNV and Liberian ship registry at Nanjing Maritime Court.
ADNOC L&S, Gulf Energy Maritime, Cockett Marine Oil, Mideast/Bahri Ship Management and VPS experts present their views on biofuel bunker hurdles at the VPS Biofuels Seminar in Dubai on 16 March.
‘Bunker barges operate in very local areas so these vessels call at port very often which means it will be a good fit for women with families,’ states Elpi Petraki, President of WISTA International.
“Our Singapore branch is under preparation and is expected to start business at the republic before June 2023,” Managing Director Darcy Wong tells bunkering publication Manifold Times in an interview.
Development to supply B35 biodiesel blend officially takes effect on 1 February; local bunker suppliers will be able to deliver updated spec within March onwards, once current stocks of B30 avails run out.
VPS, Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation, Wilhelmsen Ship Management, and INTERTANKO executives offered a multitude of perspectives to 73 attendees during the VPS Biofuels Seminar, reports Manifold Times.
