The HPCL has announced meeting of the deadline set by the International Maritime Organisation to launch 0.5% global sulphur cap on fuel for ships in the areas which till December 31, 2019 were allowed to use fuel oil with 3.5% sulphur, reports The Hindu.
Launch of IMO compliant fuel
HPCL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Kumar Surana launched the IMO compliant fuel in the presence of top officials in the city on Thursday.
The first batch of VLSFO was already produced in Visakh Refinery early December 2019.
Options for compliance
Scrubbers
Mr. Surana said HPCL had always been in the forefront of providing cleaner and sustainable solutions. From January 1, 2020, the IMO enforced a 0.5% global sulphur cap on fuel for the areas which till December 31, 2019 were allowed to use fuel oil with 3.5% sulphur.
In these areas, all ships are now required to use fuel with a maximum sulphur content of 0.5%, unless they use exhaust gas cleaning systems like scrubbers.
Compliant fuel
Mr. Surana said the VLSFO would help the shipping companies respond to the tightening regulation on sulphur dioxide emissions by offering this IMO-2020 compliant marine fuel.
The product meets the Residual Marine Grade (RMG) 0.50 specification and ISO 8217:2017 standard requirements.
Quality guidelines
This fuel also meets all quality guidelines detailed by the International Organization of Standardisation in its recently released ISO 23263:2019 standard.
BS-VI compliant transport fuels
HPCL owns and operates two major refineries strategically located in Visakhapatnam on the east coast and Mumbai on the west coast.
To continue with its commitment towards environment protection, HPCL has undertaken measures at both refineries to produce BS-VI compliant transport fuels before the schedule stipulated.
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Source: The Hindu
