Sinopec vows to boost supply of low-sulfur marine fuel oil

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, the world's largest refiner by volume, vows to raise its production capability of low-sulfur marine fuel oil to 10 million tons by 2020 and 15 million tons by 2023 for greener shipping, the company said June 5, the 48th World Environment Day.

The commitment shall reduce 600,000 tons of sulfur oxide emissions, equivalent to shutting down over 64 million National IV Standard trucks for a year, it said.

The company, known as Sinopec, vows to further improve its global low-sulfur marine fuel oil sales network and cover China's major ports including Zhoushan with Sinopec's low-sulfur marine fuel oil products by January 2020, as well as 50 key overseas ports including Singapore.

Three of the company's refineries, including Shanghai Refinery, Jinling Refinery and Hainan Refinery, have already been producing low-sulfur marine fuel oil products for the market. The company is also planning to have another seven refineries to produce low-sulfur marine fuel oil in the near future.

Shipping emissions have become one of the major sources of air pollution in port cities and coastal areas. One large and medium-sized container ship that sails with a 70 percent load will produce the PM2.5 equivalent of emissions from 210,000 National IV Standard trucks, said the company.

According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the global shipping industry is estimated to consume around 300 million tons of marine fuel in 2020.

Earlier, the organization announced a more sharply regulated shipping emissions standard, with a global sulfur cap of 0.5 percent on marine fuel starting Jan 1, 2020, compared with the current global sulfur cap on bunker fuel of 3.5 percent.