S&P Global Platts has begun publishing daily barge assessments for residual marine fuel in New York Harbor reflecting a maximum sulfur limit of 0.5% starting January 2, 2019.
This decision follows an announcement by Platts on March 26, 2018, to publish spot assessments for 0.5% marine fuel oil in Houston, Rotterdam, Fujairah and Singapore with effect from January 2, 2019. That announcement can be viewed at: https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/032618-pl atts-to-publish-05-sulfur-marine-fuel-assessments
The launch of these assessments would come 12 months ahead of the planned introduction of new sulfur limits in marine fuels by the International Maritime Organization from January 1, 2020.
The "USAC Marine Fuel 0.5%" assessment (Code: AUAMA00) reflects a minimum volume of 50,000 barrels delivered basis New York Harbor, 10-25 days forward from the date of publication. Deliveries outside of New York may be normalized for freight.
This new assessment reflects specifications for RMG fuel as defined by the International Organization for Standardization in document ISO 8217:2010 Petroleum products - Fuels (class F) - Specifications of marine fuels, but with a sulfur cap of 0.5%. Feedback received so far also suggests that new 0.5% sulfur marine fuel blends are likely to be of comparatively lower viscosity than prevailing fuels.
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