Daily Briefing January 21 2020
Free to read: Libyan crude exports paralysis deals blow to aframax tankers | Sludge risk may rise as bunker stream lightens up | Shell endorses carbon pricing for shipping | Zeamarine to clarify fleet status
Good morning. Here’s our quick view of everything you need to know today.
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What to watch | Analysis | Opinion | Markets | In other news
What to watch
Libyan crude shipments remain blocked at all eight export terminals, temporarily removing some 940,000 barrels per day from the global market, and helping send cross-Med aframax tanker rates lower and oil prices higher.
If carbon pricing is correctly developed and managed there could be a role for it, says Shell. This could buy the shipping industry some time as it tries to meet the deadline set by the IMO, according to the oil major.
Zeamarine, which announced a restructuring last month, says it will make a statement regarding the future of its fleet within a few days.
Analysis
Lighter fuel oil blends are believed to be entering Singapore’s bunker stream. The risk with such blends is they may be derived from blending with waxy diesel oil, the use of which can result in excessive sludge, one expert suggests.
The shipping industry will need between $1trn and $1.4trn for new fuel production and supply chains investments and a new or retrofitted fleet to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2050, study reveals.
Opinion
While the trade war with China has been costly for the US, the Port of Los Angeles has worked hard to counteract the effects, according to its executive director Gene Seroka.
The Lloyd’s List Podcast: Featuring on this week’s edition with our markets editor Michelle Wiese Bockmann we have LLI’s lead analyst Christopher Pålsson talking tanker numbers, ABB’s marine and ports head Jorgen Karlsson talking tech and Stena Bulk chief Erik Hanell talking security and Stena Impero.
Markets
Six non-governmental organisations have written to the IMO secretary-general urging leadership on climate action, which will not only help reach shipping’s greenhouse gas reduction target but set a model for other industries in their decarbonisation efforts.
Malaysia’s national oil company Petronas and China’s Shenergy have agreed a long-term liquefied natural gas sales and purchase arrangement and to team up on developing a fleet to ship the cargoes.
In other news
The European Commission is being urged to reconsider its decision to grant an extension to the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation for the liner shipping industry.
China and Myanmar have signed agreements to advance the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, which is a project under the former’s Belt and Road Initiative that includes a strategic port on the Bay of Bengal.
Future ship battery systems will need extra safety features to prevent and control fires and explosions, a multi-country research team has found.
Nineteen Indian hostages have been released from the Union Maritime-owned vessel Duke on Sunday, but one crew member died shortly after being kidnapped.
Probunkers, the Greece-based liquefied natural gas fuelling company, has signed a letter of intent with South Korean builder Hyundai Mipo Dockyard for its first two LNG bunkering vessels.