Notable ‘highlights’ in Bureau Veritas VeriFuel’s fuel quality statistics for the last quarter of 2023 include an increase in viscosity in very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) over the year at some key bunker ports and a global average viscosity of 167 @ 50 degrees centigrade (cSt) in Q4, which is the highest for the past two years.
According to VeriFuel statistics shared with Bunkerspot, in 2023, December was the month with the highest average viscosity for the year, at 171. Viscosity in Q4 at Hong Kong was 154 and 229 at Piraeus – the highest of the year for both ports. However, viscosity was notably down at Las Palmas in the last quarter of 2023, 188 versus 154 in Q2 and the lowest figure for the year at this port.
Looking at global averages for VLSFO, Al+Si (mg/kg) was 22 in Q4 2023, in line with results for Q2 and Q3, but the figure has been on the rise over 2022/2023.
The VLSFO global average for sulphur content was 0.68%, higher than in Q2 and Q3 2023.
Cat fines >30 (mg/kg) showed some fluctuation across the year, heading down at ARA ports over the last three quarters of 2023 (62% (Q2) - 59% (Q3) - 39% (Q4) and increasing in Hong Kong (6% - 29% - 45%).
Looking at off-spec fuels in relation to ISO 8217 parameters, 5% were off-spec at ARA ports in Q4, compared to 3% in Q2 and 2% in Q4.
For high sulphur fuel oil, the global average of viscosity for 2023 remained in line with 2022 results (312 versus 313), and there was also little change in density across the two years.
Average sulphur content for this grade in Q4 last year was the lowest for the year, at 2.65%, and the lowest percentage since VeriFuel’s statistics for Q2 2022.
MCR was also the lowest of the year in Q4 at 12.5 (% m/m) and the trend was also largely downwards across the full year.
Off-spec HSFO (against ISO 8217 parameters) was 1.8% of fuel tested, which was higher than in Q3 2023 (0.8%) but again, the trend was downwards across the year. On a monthly basis, December was the ‘best’ month in 2023 for off-spec HSFO at 0.4%.
In terms of off-spec parameters at global ports, the average HSFO viscosity at Singapore was 347, the highest of 2023 at the world’s largest bunker hub.
Notable decreases in HSFO sediment content were seen in Algeciras across the last three quarters of 2023 (90 - 95 - 60), ARA ports (80 - 57 – 37) and Klaipeda (45 - 100 - 23). While Gothenburg saw a significant upswing in the sediment content (73 - 71 - 92).
There were also variations in catfines results at some ports across the last three quarters of 2023, particularly at Zhoushan (0% - 22% - 69%) and Balboa (8% - 9% - 43%).
In terms of off-spec HSFO again ISO 8217 parameters, Piraeus saw a leap from 0% in Q1 and Q2 to 11% in Q4 2023.
Finally, for DMA 0.10%, viscosity increased in every quarter last year at Gibraltar, finishing at 5.04 in Q4.
The Q4 2023 global average for a Cold Filter Plugging Point (CFPP) of >6 for this fuel grade was 15.6% of tested fuels Looking at European ports in the last quarter it was 59.8% at Algeciras, 52.8% at ARA, and 41.8% at Gibraltar.
