Woodmac: 10% of Marine Fuel to be Scrubbed

Recent research from Woodmac makes some fairly bold and insightful predictions on the future of maritime fuel as the clock ticks toward 2020 and new fuel rules from the IMO that will dramatically reduce the level of sulfur emissions from ships.

* Research firm Woodmac sees a rise in the use on ships of "scrubbers", the equipment to clean up sulfur emissions, before the International Maritime Organization imposes new rules from Jan. 1 2020 to limit sulfur content in fuel

* Woodmac forecasts that just over 10 percent of marine fuel will be scrubbed in 2020 when the regulations kick in.

* In addition, Woodmac anticipates compliance with the regulation to be at 85 percent in 2020, rising to full compliance by 2025.

* Use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in shipping will increase 70 percent between 2019 and 2020, which will displace 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of marine fuels in 2020

* Woodmac estimates availability of very low-sulphur fuel oil at 1.4 million bpd in 2020 and 1.7 million bpd in 2024

(Reuters reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar Editing by Edmund Blair)