Bharat Petroleum exports IMO 2020 grade VLSFO, first from the country
10 Feb 2020 | BPCL
With the export of its first parcel of IMO 2020 grade Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) from Kochi to Singapore on 07 February 2020, Bharat Petroleum becomes the first Oil Marketing Company to export this product from the country.
Dr. M Beena IAS, Chairman, Cochin Port Trust waved the green for the first export tanker of VLSFO from the Cochin Port in the presence of Mr. P Murali Madhavan, Executive Director (Kochi Refinery) and Mr. K Suresh Nair, Executive Director (Supply Chain Optimisation),BPCL. Mr. M R Subramoni Iyer, Chief General Manager (Operations), Mr. A Mohanlal Menon, Chief General Manager (Engg & Advisory Services), Mr. Chandrasekhar N, General Manager (Oil Movement & Stock) and Mr. V R Rajan, General Manager (Technology); and from Cochin Port Trust, officials including Capt. Jose Alapatt, Deputy Conservator, Capt. Krishna Prasad, Dock Master, Capt. Shaji Abraham, Harbor Master and Mr. Jimmy George, Traffic Master were present
Stringent IMO standards aimed at preventing pollution from marine and shipping operations are re-shaping the marine fuels landscape and the global cap on sulphur content for general shipping stands reduced from 3.50 %wt to 0.50 %wt effective 1 Jan 2020.
“VLSFO is an IMO 2020 compliant marine fuel and in view of emerging market for VLSFO, Kochi Refinery started production from December 2019. We also started supplying VLSFO to the tankers calling at Kochi from then. VLSFO is produced mainly using the vacuum residue of Low Sulphur Crude oils with suitable blending streams. Now that the global demand is increasing, we have entered into exports of VLSFO, after saturating indigenous demands. The first export that was flagged off from Kochi also marks the first export from the country by any Oil Marketing Company in India,” said Mr. P Murali Madhavan, Executive Director (Kochi Refinery).
The tanker MT Alnic MC carrying the first parcel of 15 TMT VLSFO to Singapore was flagged off by Dr M Beena while Mr. Subramoni Iyer handed over the documents to Captain Sajulan Victor of the tanker.