A CLOSER LOOK AT HOW COVID-19 AND IMO 2020 ARE IMPACTING FUEL OIL

JBC Energy’s Eugene Lindell explains why we shouldn’t count on HSFO weakness any time soon IN the run up to 2020 the most frequently discussed topic was undoubtedly IMO 2020 and its ramifications across the refining, bunkering, shipping, and terminalling industries. Indeed we at JBC Energy had been preparing for this topic since 2017 as many readers of this magazine will know. But when 2020 finally arrived, the International Maritime Organization’s limelight was overshadowed by the global COVID-19 pandemic that swiftly took centre stage, skewing price signals and pushing refiners into survival mode. For the various stakeholders in the industries impacted by IMO 2020 the question presents itself which price signals are ‘real’ and hence sustainable, and which are the result of virus-related disruptions that will pass once we overcome the pandemic. Let’s start with the shipping industry. Of paramount importance to stakeholders here is the price of bunker fuel, which of course is linked to the price of crude, which in turn was massively negatively impacted by the demand shock arising from the lockdowns that stifled mobility. A consequence of this, however, was that...