USCG: No 2020 change in bunker sulphur enforcement

Spanish Market: Oil products
23/10/19

The US Coast Guard (USCG) says it will maintain its current policy for enforcing marine fuel sulphur content come 1 January, taking a balanced approach to compliance.

If a vessel operator loaded what it thought was 0.50pc sulphur bunkers and the fuel ended up being 0.51pc sulphur, that may be considered just a deficiency, said Samuel Danus, a lieutenant commander of the USCG during the the Argus Fuel Oil Summit in Miami, Florida.

The USCG will take a balanced approach and, depending on the circumstances, might not be necessarily "heavy handed" with penalties on very small sulphur infractions, he said.

When checking for marine fuel compliance the USCG looks at inconsistencies in the bunker delivery notices (BDNs) vessels are required to keep, Danus said. Fuel non-availability reports (Fonar) are required to be filed by vessels operators when they are unable to purchase compliant fuel in order to alert the vessel flag administration and the port of call. These have to be submitted to the US Coast Guard.

Even with Fonars in place the USCG investigates to determine the validity of the filing. The Coast Guard could test fuel samples. If found non-compliant, a vessel can be detained and or fined.

Starting on 1 March 2020 the International Maritime Organization will ban vessels from carrying high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) in bunkering tanks unless the vessel is outfitted with scrubbers. If the USCG finds HSFO in fueling tanks starting in March, the vessel operator could be asked to offload the non-compliant fuel at the current port and load compliant fuel, which would last them for the length of their next voyage.

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03/06/26

Kuwait suspends air traffic after drone hits airport

Dubai, 3 June (Argus) — Kuwait has suspended air traffic after Iranian drones hit Kuwait International Airport late on Tuesday, the country's civil aviation body Paca said today. A number of Iranian drones targeted the airport's terminal one, the ministry of defense said. The attack caused casualties and significant damage to the airport facilities, said Paca spokesman Abdullah Al-Rajhi. "An additional wave of Iranian drones attempting to attack US forces in Kuwait failed to impact intended targets tonight", the US Central Command (Centcom) said, adding that "defenses successfully downed multiple drones". Kuwait International Airport is closed until 14:00 Kuwait time (11:00 GMT) on 4 June. Kuwait's low-cost carrier Jazeera Airways said all flights scheduled for today have been cancelled until 14:00 local time, or until further notice. The airline said all its aircraft are being repositioned to Saudi Arabia. Kuwait's airport has been repeatedly targeted by Iran since the war with the US and Israel began on 28 February. The attacks damaged infrastructure, with the most recent drone strike causing fires at the airport's fuel depots on 1 April . The new attacks come just two days after Kuwait resumed regional and foreign airline flights from its airport, in hopes to fully restart air traffic operations in the country. Kuwait was the last country in the region to reopen its airspace on 24 April , nearly two months after shutting it when the war began. The disruption to flights has sharply curtailed Kuwaiti jet fuel demand, which fell to 1,000 b/d in March, according to the country's latest submission to the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (Jodi). Kuwait's jet fuel demand averaged around 19,000 b/d in 2025. By Ieva Paldaviciute Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Ampol to acquire fuel retailer EG Australia

03/06/26

Ampol to acquire fuel retailer EG Australia

Sydney, 3 June (Argus) — Australia's refiner and retailer Ampol has received regulatory approval from the country's competition regulator to acquire UK-owned EG Australia in a cash-settled deal worth A$1.1bn ($780mn), it said today. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will allow the deal to proceed if Ampol divests 41 EG Australia fuel stations. The regulator has approved Dib Group, trading as Metro Petroleum, as the purchaser of these divestment sites. The acquisition is expected to be completed on 30 June, subject to final regulatory requirements. The regulator previously identified 115 EG fuel stations where the deal would raise competition concerns across Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, where Ampol's post-acquisition market share would have reached 21pc, 19pc, 20pc and 31pc respectively. Ampol had earlier planned to divest 19 retail fuel stations , but this was deemed insufficient to offset competition concerns. Ampol expects the acquisition to generate targeted synergies of A$65mn-80mn per year and said the deal will strengthen its retail network and expand its higher-margin fuel and convenience business. Total fuel sales volumes reached around 428,000 b/d in January–March, broadly stable compared with 6.14bn litres in the same quarter a year earlier, with retail volumes broadly unchanged while wholesale demand softened. EFA support and MSO limitations The approval comes as Ampol has been drawn into Australia's broader fuel security response following the outbreak of the US-Iran war in late February. Government agency Export Finance Australia (EFA) first partnered with Ampol and Viva Energy in early April to underwrite spot-market fuel and crude oil purchases, enabling both refiners to secure cargoes that would otherwise be considered uncommercial due to volatile prices and high spot-market costs. Under the scheme, the government retains the ability to prioritise regions facing tighter supply. EFA has since expanded beyond Ampol and Viva Energy to include smaller, regionally focused operators IOR and Park Fuels. At the same time, Australia's minimum stockholding obligation (MSO) framework has not addressed access to fuel in regional areas. The MSO, which compels major importers to hold fuel stocks based on typical daily consumption, covers a limited group of large companies and does not extend to independent wholesalers that supply rural transport and farm businesses. These wholesalers have reported being unable to secure uncontracted supplies that are usually accessible, following the onset of the US-Iran conflict. By Lawrence Wen and Tom Major Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Japan’s petchem supply to last beyond fiscal year: PM

03/06/26

Japan’s petchem supply to last beyond fiscal year: PM

Tokyo, 3 June (Argus) — Japan can maintain supply of its petroleum products, including naphtha-derived chemical products, beyond the current fiscal year that ends in March 2027, prime minister Sanae Takaichi said on 2 June. Takaichi had already declared that Japan can secure stable oil supply beyond March 2027 , but supply of naphtha-derived products had previously been secured only through to the end of this year. Her latest statement extends that outlook. The outlook reflects the ongoing recovery in Japan's naphtha procurement, which has currently risen to around 85pc of normal levels, supported by both domestic refining and alternative imports from regions outside the Middle East. Japan has also boosted imports of intermediates, which has helped limit drawdowns of intermediate stocks in April, Takaichi said. Manufacturers of midstream products such as polyethylene, as well as downstream products — including paints and thinners, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes and insulation materials — have reported that their supply performance up until April has been at the same level as or higher than in the previous year, Takaichi said, adding that they also expect to continue supply going forward. But inventories in the supply chain for paints and thinners remain relatively low. In response, in addition to petrochemical firms' supply and trading firms' imports, refiners will directly supply feedstocks such as toluene and xylene to paint and thinner manufacturers, enabling supply of up to 1.8 times the usual level of demand, according to the government. This arrangement follows domestic distribution bottlenecks for paints and thinners. Because of disruptions to shipments from the Middle East stemming from the US-Iran war, Japan's naphtha imports fell to 710,000t in April , down by 46pc from a year earlier, based on preliminary finance ministry data. Imports in May and June are expected to exceed the April level, supported by efforts to increase alternative imports from the US and other regions outside the Middle East. By Kohei Yamamoto Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Dangote targets 30-month Lekki refinery expansion

02/06/26

Dangote targets 30-month Lekki refinery expansion

London, 2 June (Argus) — Nigeria's Dangote aims to finish the expansion of its 700,000 b/d Lekki refinery within the next 30 months, Dangote Industries vice president Devakumar Edwin has told Argus . "It's an aggressive target, but we are trying our best," he said. The milestone in focus is "mechanical completion" of a new 750,000 b/d crude distillation unit (CDU) and additional secondary units by December 2028. Edwin told Argus in January that Dangote has placed equipment orders to realise the refinery expansion with 20-month lead times. Dangote's existing CDU is now able to run at 700,000 b/d, Edwin said, up from 650,000 b/d. "We have been pushing up production by improving operating efficiency". Crude receipts at the refinery in May were the second highest for any month since the facility began operations, according to Argus tracking, after hitting a record 635,000 b/d in April. This suggests that the Lekki refinery would overtake Reliance Industries' 1.4mn b/d Jamnagar refinery to become the largest refinery in the world at 1.45mn b/d CDU capacity upon mechanical completion of the current expansion. Dangote's refinery would build considerably on its position as a key Atlantic basin refinery once expanded. It is already the largest supplier of refined products to the domestic Nigerian market and the broader west African region, while its deliveries of jet to Europe have been key in cushioning the impact of supply shortfalls from Mideast Gulf producers as the US-Iran war continues to disrupt exports from the region. An ongoing feasibility study for Dangote to build an east African refinery at the port of Mombasa, Kenya, or at the port of Tanga, Tanzania, further underpins the company's ambition to increase its footprint in the African refining industry at a time when other grand projects in west Africa are struggling to get off the ground . By George Maher-Bonnett Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

BP to sell 5pc stake in Australia’s Browse LNG project

02/06/26

BP to sell 5pc stake in Australia’s Browse LNG project

Sydney, 2 June (Argus) — BP will sell a 5pc stake in the $35bn Browse gas fields offshore Western Australia (WA), with South Korean private-sector firm GS Energy joining the project to help backfill the 14.3mn t/yr North West Shelf LNG terminal. BP will retain a 39.33pc working interest in Browse joint venture (JV) post-transaction, a BP spokesperson said on 2 June, describing GS as a "committed partner" that complements the substantial work already completed to advance the project as it progresses towards the front-end engineering and design (FEED) stage. The deal is conditional upon regulatory and JV approvals. Australian independent Woodside Energy is the operator and holds a 30.6pc stake in Browse alongside BP, Japan's Mimi — a joint venture between Mitsui and Mitsubishi — which owns 14.4pc, while state-owned PetroChina controls 10.67pc. PetroChina is planning to sell its share to Japanese firm Inpex, it said last month . Inpex already operates the 9.3mn t/yr Ichthys JV and holds a 17.5pc stake in the Shell-operated 3.6mn t/yr Prelude floating LNG facility, both of which are located in the Browse basin. South Korea is considered a critical energy partner for Australia. Australia was the top LNG exporter to South Korea in both 2024 and 2025, shipping 14.68mn t in 2025 , up by 29pc from 11.4mn t in 2024. South Korea was Australia's largest gasoil supplier in 2025, data from Australian Petroleum Statistics show, shipping about 150,000 b/d , mainly to the east coast. Australia also shipped about 10pc, or 20.5mn t , of its thermal coal exports to South Korea last year. At the same time, it imports around 30pc of its gasoil cargoes from South Korean refiners — a supply that is critical to keeping its mining and agriculture sectors operational, as it lacks domestic refining capacity to meet demand. The addition of Japanese and South Korean partners to the Browse JV may help spur progress on the controversial project, as north Asian importers seek to secure non-Middle East supplies in the wake of the US-Iran war, while Canberra similarly moves to lock-in oil product imports. Browse ‘critical': WA With a forecast production capacity of 11.4mn t/yr across LNG, LPG and domestic gas and a peak condensate production rate of 50,000 b/d, Browse is considered Australia's single largest untapped oil and gas project. But the JV's plans for the field are already facing headwinds from a national environmental campaign alleging potential damage from the project's emissions and to the nearby Scott Reef, a remote shoal system . Proponents include WA premier Roger Cook, who has warned that Browse is critical to the state's domestic gas supply, as the NWS project includes the 630 TJ/d capacity Karratha Gas Plant (KGP). Production at KGP has dipped since mid-2020 due to natural field depletion. Woodside's share of NWS' LNG production has also fallen to 2.94mn t in 2025, down from 3.64mn t a year earlier, after it retired a 2.5mn t/yr train at the terminal in late 2024. By Tom Major Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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USCG: No 2020 change in bunker sulphur enforcement

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