Asia/Pacific News
New Zealand Refiner Taking a Wait and See Approach for 2020
Sjoerd Post, CEO of the New Zealand Refining Company (NZR), has suggested his company is taking a wait and see approach in responding to an anticipated shift in product demand resulting from the 0.50 percent global sulfur cap on bunkers set to be implemented by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) from 2020.
During his recent Address to Shareholders, Post says the IMO's future sulfur regulation will be good for gasoil prices, commenting: "we are a gasoil producing refinery, so, so far so good; but potentially bad for fuel oil prices - and we do produce some fuel oil.
"We will watch for key signals, particularly the order books of scrubber manufacturers and prepare for a world in which we may need to destroy fuel oil in higher value products such as bitumen or burn it for the Refinery's own energy use."
A recent report published by global banking firm UBS Limited (UBS) indicated 74 percent of shipowners will switch to burning a 0.50 percent sulfur compliant product in 2020, but as Ship & Bunker reported in April, Paul Nix, General Manager of Terminal Operations at Gulf Petrochem Pte Ltd (Gulf Petrochem), has said that there is currently "no incentive" for the shipping industry to make preparations on how they will comply with the new rules.
