Guandong-based Sinopec Maoming Refining and Chemical Company on Friday (28 February) announced the loading of its first LSFO bunker cargo at Tianyuan Terminal for export at an earlier date, according to Sinopec News Network, the company’s official news agency.
2,721 metric tonnes (mt) of LSFO was loaded on board tanker 朝阳502 (Chao Yang 502) on 14 February, making Sinopec Maoming the first within the company’s network to produce LSFO via blending, it said.
The LSFO cargo was later accepted into an export warehouse and bunkered onto international ships on 18 February. The first bunkering volume totaled 90 metric tonnes (mt).
The company aims to scale down its heavy fuel oil inventory with the production and export of LSFO; and being a high value product, increase Sinopec’s profitability.
Photo credit: Sinopec
Published: 2 March, 2020.
Manufactured at Viva Energy’s Geelong Refinery, the new VLSFO is the first LSFO to be produced in Australasia.
Bonded bunker sales at Zhoushan increased by 15pc from a year earlier, thanks to rising imports of iron ore and other bulk commodities as well as increased efficiencies.
Located in Singapore, the Base Oil Desk is in line with the company’s current growth strategy to diversify its products; Sing Fuels will be trading Group I, II and III base oil products.
Star Bulk expects average cost, including installation, to be below $2 million per vessel.
Reports note a remarkable increase in LNG sales that more than tripled alongside the expected surge in VLSFO sales post IMO 2020.
Parent company HWTT saw IMO 2020 as an opportunity to revamp a vacuum distillation unit; it has a nameplate capacity of approximately 2.5 million tons of LSFO per year.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and MPA is working closely with other agencies to monitor the situation, both globally and in Singapore, the port authority tells Manifold Times.
Caroline Yang, President of SSA, addresses issues earlier raised by players; including PMC No. 04, the seven-day restriction, contactless bunkering, sampling point, hose connection, and more.
IBIA Asia, ABIS, sources from Singapore’s bunkering and surveying companies, and an industry veteran share with Manifold Times the issues expected from MPA’s latest Covid-19 measures.
The top three positive movers in the 2020 bunker supplier list are Hong Lam Fuels Pte Ltd (+13); Chevron Singapore Pte Ltd (+12); and SK Energy International (+8), according to MPA list.
‘We will operate in the Singapore bunkering market from the Tokyo, with support from local staff at Sumitomo Corporation Singapore,’ source tells Manifold Times.
Changes include abolishing advance declaration of bunkers as dangerous cargo, reducing pilotage fees on vessels receiving bunkers, and a ‘whitelist’ system for bunker tankers.
