The past six months have shown a ‘generally improving’ quality-trends picture for both very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) and high sulphur fuel (HSFO), reports Manifold Times quoting the newly-published Integr8 Fuels Bunker Quality Trends Report.
Integr8 pointed out that this is an improvement from the ‘historic lows’ of Q1 2022, ‘a period that coincided with the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian sanctions and the spike in oil prices’.
Improvement in fuel quality or compliance
The report added: ‘These challenges show no real sign of abatement so in the short to medium term we do not expect to see significant improvement in fuel quality or compliance.’
In addition to providing a detailed analysis of quality and compliance trends for VLSFO, HSFO and marine gasoil (MGO), the report also flagged up the ‘hidden losses’ that can be incurred as a result of density short lifting.
The report cautioned: ‘The relevance of variances between Density listed on the Bunker Delivery Note and that obtained when tested, known as a Density short lift, has rarely been more important given the very high prices being noted at this time and as a result the potential for financial losses to the end user.’
‘Data available to Integr8 Fuels identifies several key locations in the world with endemic variances for both VLSFO and MGO. We would also mention that these variances are less common with HSFO due to the density often being blended near the maximum specification.’
Click here to download the new Integr8 Fuels Bunker Quality Trends Report.
Did you subscribe to our daily Newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Source: Manifold Times
