Indian officials have ruled out the market speculation by confirming that the country’s domestic and International shipping sector will comply with the IMO’s low sulfur mandate and the country remains committed to implement MARPOL VI regulations on board its flag vessels, reports Platts.
Availability of low sulphur
“Domestic shipping will start complying as soon as the low sulfur fuel is available,” an official told.
Preparations for compliance
In order to ensure compliance, the Directorate General of Shipping, the maritime regulator, has already held several rounds of consultation with stakeholders, including ship owners, unions, oil refiners, bunker oil suppliers and barge operators, to prepare for the IMO 2020 rule, the official said.
India’s move comes on the heels of an announcement by Indonesia in August that it will fulfill its MARPOL Annex VI obligations to enforce the 0.50% sulfur cap regulations, dismissing earlier government plans, suggesting only a partial implementation of the rule.
Indian Refiners
According to industry sources,
- Compliance with the IMO 2020 rule worldwide is expected to be around 80%-90% in the initial months of 2020.
- Asia will play an active role in achieving this compliance rate as refiners pave the way.
Assurance
Refiners such as Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation have assured the shipping ministry of the availability of IMO 2020 compliant 0.5% sulfur fuel across the Indian coast from October 2019, the Indian shipping ministry official said.
IOC, for example, aims to supply more than 1 million mt/year of the cleaner fuel from its Haldia refinery on the eastern coast and the Gujarat refinery on the western coast, Platts reported earlier.
Early implementation
Meanwhile, early planning and implementation will help the entire supply chain to be ready to implement the IMO 2020 regulation, the shipping ministry said.
Many parties were already forging ahead with the ship implementation plan prepared by the IMO, industry sources said.
Elements covered in the plan include a risk assessment and mitigation plan to tackle
- the impact of new fuels,
- fuel oil system modifications,
- tank cleaning and
- bunkering.
India’s oil ministry puts annual marine fuel demand at around 1 million mt/y.
Did you subscribe to our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Source: Platts
