OMV Petrom, the largest energy company in South-Eastern Europe, developed at the Petrobrazi refinery a new marine fuel oil with low sulfur content that allows shippers to reduce sulfur emissions and to be compliant with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) 2020 regulations. The first delivery took place in Constanța Harbor, at the end of the last year.

The process of obtaining low-sulfur marine fuel oil was possible with a EUR 3 million investment in the production logistics facilities at the Petrobrazi refinery. The implementation of the project took almost two years. By the end of last year, shipping carriers used heavy fuel oil with a sulfur content of 3.5%. The new marine fuel oil obtained at the Petrobrazi refinery has only up to 0.5% sulfur content, in line with the IMO global sulfur limit applicable to the shipping industry starting from this year.

Up until the launch of this product, the Romanian market was supplied exclusively by import. From now on, at Petrobrazi refinery, at least 70Kt of marine fuel oil with low sulfur content can be produced annually, subject to production optimization to meet demand and maximize value added.

According to IMO, by limiting the sulfur content in ships’ fuel oil to 0.5%, an annual 77% drop in sulfur emissions can be achieved, which means 8.5 million metric tons of sulfur per year globally. This has a positive impact on the quality of life in the communities of the port and coastal cities.

According to European Commission data, 90% of the European Union`s external trade in goods is maritime and over 400 million passengers transit trough the European ports, annually.