MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell Plc's Singapore bunkering unit, Shell Eastern Trading Pte Ltd, moved up a notch to be the top marine fuel supplier in the world's biggest ship refueling hub in 2020, official data showed, while the overall number of suppliers steadied after years of declines, reported Reuters.
Singapore-based Sentek Marine & Trading Pte Ltd dropped one spot to third in 2020, behind Equatorial Marine Fuel Management Services Pte Ltd in second place after climbing from fourth in the previous year, the latest data from the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) of Singapore showed.
PetroChina International (S) Pte Ltd, the top supplier by volume in 2019, dropped to fourth place in 2020 followed by BP Singapore Pte Ltd in fifth, the MPA data showed.
The biggest leaps up the MPA's ranking included SK Energy International Pte Ltd which ranked seventh in 2020, up from 15th in the previous year as well as Chevron Singapore Pte Ltd which climbed from 21st to ninth in 2020, the data showed.
The overall number of licensed bunker suppliers steadied at 45 companies in 2020, unchanged from 2019 which marked a sixth year of shrinking supplier numbers amid narrowing profit margins, strict enforcement checks and few new license awards.
New global rules that forced shippers to switch to new and cleaner fuels has helped reshape the bunkering market, favouring larger suppliers with integrated supply chains and better access to capital, trade sources said.
International Maritime Organization rules have capped the sulphur content of ship fuel at 0.5% from the start of 2020 unless vessels are equipped with exhaust-cleaning systems known as scrubbers.
Trafigura's TFG Marine and Mercuria's Minerva Bunkering, the first to issued new bunkering licenses in April by the port authority since 2017, ranked 16th and 22nd, respectively, in their debut year, according to the MPA's ranking.
However, the licence of Ocean Bunkering Services Pte Ltd (OBS), a subsidiary of defunct oil trader Hin Leong, remained suspended since around October, according to the MPA rankings, after it failed to meet licensing requirements.
Sales of marine fuels in Singapore climbed to a three-year high in 2020, supported by resilient December volumes and bucking a weaker global trend as the coronavirus pandemic suppressed demand, official data showed.
The city state accounts about 20% of global bunkering sales.
As MRC wrote before, Royal Dutch Shell has reported an outage at its olefins plant in Deer Park, Texas, USA, on 5 January, 2021. The plant flared for 16 hours last Tuesday following unspecified process upset. Maximum steam cracker operating rate in Texas falls to 89%.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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