The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) has pushed back against suggestions that shale oil-derived components in marine fuels are directly responsible for recent vessel operational issues.
In a statement published on Sunday, the association said its technical working group found no evidence of a direct causal relationship between the reported incidents and residual marine fuels that may contain shale oil-derived blendstocks.
The comments follow reports from Singapore-based testing firm Maritec-Naias and Lloyd’s Register’s Fuel Oil Bunker Analysis and Advisory Service (FOBAS), which identified elevated acid numbers in some Singapore-supplied very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO). The findings were linked to acidic compounds commonly associated with Estonian shale oil.
IBIA noted that shale oil is a permitted blend component under the ISO 8217 marine fuel specification. It said the key question is whether the delivered fuel complies with the standard and is operationally fit for use, rather than whether it contains shale oil.
The association added that the recent findings highlight the need for further technical research, industry collaboration and data sharing as marine fuel blends become increasingly complex.
