En analys av förmågan för raffinaderier i Västsverige att kunna leverera bunker i enlighet med Annex VI 2020 - Strategier Inför och Efter 2020

Sammanfattning: Sulphur emissions have been acknowledged in recent decades as a significant cause of damage to our environment and human health, especially to persons inhabiting coastal areas operated by merchant ships. To counteract the negative effects, IMO has stipulated through the MARPOL Convention the maximum levels of sulphur that may occur in marine fuels. Over the years, a number of amendments have been made to the Sixth Annex of the Convention, the Annex that regulates emissions to the atmosphere. The latest amendment was passed in 2016 which limits the maximum permitted sulphur content to 0.5% mass/mass from January 1, 2020. As this is a significant tightening of the previous global sulphur directive, it means that several players in the maritime cluster will be affected as they must adapt their activities per the new legislation.This bachelor’s thesis is a case study that has analysed how the refineries on the Swedish west coast will be affected by the sulphur directive. In particular, the strategies they intend to implement to optimally adapt their activities to the new conditions were assessed. In addition, the parameters which affect the bunker market were also studied in order to understand how they affect the refineries’ strategies in relation to the changing regulatory conditions. The method by which the thesis was written was through a qualitative case study and a search for literature on the subject as well as four semi structured interviews with the refineries, Preem and St1, the maritime consulting company Maritime-Insight, and the bunker supplier Topoil. The semi structured interviews which the results were based on, were conducted to collect primary data, partly on how the refineries intend to act before and after 2020, and partly to understand the mechanisms behind their strategies. The results showed that both Preem and St1 are well prepared for the upcoming sulphur directive. This is mainly due to the fact that they have modern facilities which means that they have the ability to produce gas oils that will correspond to the increased demand that the directive will lead to.