Wholesale / Refining
What’s been happening in the wholesale and
refining markets and what does the future hold?
Essar Oil UK – a positive outlook
Currently supplying 16% of the nation’s road
transport fuel demand, Essar Oil UK remains
positive on the refinery outlook in the near and
medium term.
“Going forward, Stanlow is well-positioned
to face the IMO restrictions coming into force
in 2020 on sulphur in shipping fuel, because it
produces very little heavy fuel oil,” said head of
communications, Ian Cotton.
“In fact, it produces less than 5% of high
sulphur fuel oil stream within the product slate,
whereas most refineries have to handle close to
15% of this high sulphur fuel oil stream. Essar
is in the process of looking at various options
to handle this stream and has found good
solutions to address the issue.
“Looking ahead, we foresee a good future
for refineries such as Stanlow with a middle
distillate focus and less high sulphur products
to deal with.”
Greenergy – positioned for ongoing
regulatory changes
Coming into force in April this year, changes
to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation
(RTFO) have created much higher, more
challenging biofuel supply obligations with an
early impact of this new legislation changing
the economics of supplying FAME-free gasoil.
“As a result of the tougher biofuel
supply requirements, the market transitioned
very quickly to include biodiesel in gasoil,
and generally speaking the reaction has
been positive,” reports Caroline Lumbard,
Greenergy’s UK trading director.
“Even so, Greenergy continues to make
available regionally two grades of gasoil to
accommodate the needs of customers that still
require a bio-free option.”
2018 has seen the completion of the
site’s biggest ever maintenance and re-lifing
turnaround, with project Tiger Cub increasing
crude throughput and delivering enhanced
yields of high value products.
Since acquiring Stanlow in 2011, over
$850 million has been invested in the refinery.
Multiple initiatives to boost margins have
also been introduced delivering significant
operational improvements.
In order to meet its growing biofuel supply
requirements, Greenergy continues to expand
its biodiesel manufacturing operations. Over
a number of years, incremental investment
has been made at facilities on Teesside and at
Immingham in order to expand production,
with the company recently acquiring a
biodiesel manufacturing facility in Amsterdam
which is due to commence production in
2019. These investments will help to ensure
Greenergy can meet its increasing renewable
obligations and continue to provide its
customers with high quality, low cost fuels.
Further change will come in January 2019
when a new development fuels requirement
takes effect under the RTFO.
“There are currently no development fuels
available to buy or approved under the RTFO,
so it’s impossible to meet the development fuel
objective today,” explained Caroline.
“We are exploring new technologies and
unique processes that will allow us to meet this
requirement in future, but until development
fuels come into production, the development
fuels obligation within the RTFO will be a
further additional cost for everyone in the
market.”
Fuel Oil News | October 2018 13