Global fuel oil demand will average 6.148 million b/d in 2020, a 4.6% drop from 6.440 million b/d in 2019, the International Energy Agency said in its December report published Thursday. Through Q4 2019 fuel oil demand in the Netherlands seems to have reflected the behaviour of bunker retailers, “who emptied their high sulfur fuel oil inventories ahead of the IMO specification change,” the IEA said. “After getting rid of the high sulfur material, bunker sellers started to refill their tanks with very low sulfur fuel oil in September,” the agency said. Bunker suppliers at Rotterdam have reported very weak demand for 3.5% sulfur fuel oil ahead of the International Maritime Organization’s new rules reducing sulfur limits in bunker fuel from January 1, and have scaled down supply accordingly, . At the prompt, the HSFO barge […]