The first batch of HPCL’s 0.5% very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) was produced in Visakh Refinery in early December 2019.
HPCL owns and operates two major refineries located in Visakhapatnam on the east coast and Mumbai on the west coast.
“The product meets the Residual Marine Grade (RMG) 0.50 Specification and ISO 8217:2017 standard requirements,” said Mukesh Kumar Surana, chairman and managing director of HPCL.
“This fuel also meets all quality guidelines detailed by the International Organisation of Standardisation in its recently released ISO 23263:2019 standard,” he added.
From 1 January 2020, the IMO has enforced a 0.5% global fuel sulphur content cap on all ocean-going ships. The sulphur content cap was lowered from 3.5% previously.
Separately, Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) Gujarat oil refinery and Haldia refinery have also started supplying IMO 2020 compliant bunker fuels since October and December last year, respectively.
India’s marine fuel demand is estimated at about 1m tonnes per year.
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