EMEA News
Galp's 0.5% Sulfur Product Ready by November
Portuguese oil company Galp is to bring its 0.5% sulfur bunker fuel product to market by November.
While readying its refinery base to make the new product, the company said it will continue to produce 3.5% sulfur fuel oil, new business development manager for bunkers Susana Broco told Ship&Bunker.
Broco said that the company's Sines plant would have a short turnaround in August to prepare for 0.5% production. In addition, its Oporto refinery would also produce the IMO2020 compliant fuel.
Broco said that Galp would produce around 2.5 million metric tonnes of fuel oil with around 1m mt of that figure allocated to the bunker market. The exact split in output between 3.5% sulfur and 0.5% sulfur grades has yet to be determined and would depend on market demand.
Interest in securing supplies of 0.5% sulfur fuel from shipowners is high, particularly in the contract market, according to Broco.
However, although the 0.5% sulfur cap on bunker fuel starts in just over six months, the values the new product will carry remain stubbornly invisible.
