By Victoria Klesty
OSLO, June 5 (Reuters) - Chevron plans to bring anIMO-compliant 0.5% sulphur shipping fuel blend to the market bythe end of the third quarter, a company representative said onWednesday.
Ships will be required to use fuels with a sulphur contentof no more than 0.5% from the start of 2020, down from 3.5%currently, under International Maritime Organization (IMO) rulesaimed at cutting air pollution.
"If the shipping company is willing to try it out now we canmake it available, but not for continuous purchase," ChevronFuels Technologist Monique Vermeire told Reuters at an industryconference.
"I think it will be available (for the market) by the end ofthe third quarter," she said.
Only ships fitted with sulphur-cleaning devices, known asscrubbers, will be allowed to continue burning high-sulphurfuel, under IMO regulations.
While major fuel bunkering ports such as Singapore, Fujairahin the United Arab Emirates and Rotterdam in the Netherlands areexpected to have compliant-fuel supplies, analysts and shippingfirms point to concerns over what happens at smaller ports.
Ship owners fear that mixing different batches of very lowsulphur fuels risks creating a level of sediment which coulddamage engines.
With less than seven months until the new rules apply, thereis still a lack of certainty about the change, includingregarding pricing.
"I would like to see global standard ISO certificated lowsulphur fuel oil," Ivar Myklebust, chief executive of Norwegianshipping firm Hoegh Autoliners, told a panel discussion during ashipping conference in Oslo.
"Yes, we understand we need to pay more, but what is thereference?" he said.
Without a standard certification, shipping counterparts havetrouble entering contracts and cannot lock in fuel costs on thefutures market.
Oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell havealso said they are developing very low sulphur fuels to meet the0.5% requirement.(Editing by Nerijus Adomaitis)
BP (BP.)
