ExxonMobil has described its efforts to patent low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) that can meet the IMO 2020 requirement as “normal industry practice”, suggesting that those attempts are a defence play against competitors.
As TradeWinds has reported, ExxonMobil is among energy companies that have obtained patents for its LSFO products in the US, prompting concerns that future production of the IMO-compliant bunkers could be concentrated among a handful of players.
“ExxonMobil is expending significant resources in the development of fuel formulations that will meet the needs of our customers as well as the evolving regulatory requirements,” the US energy giant’s marine fuels venture manager, Luca Volta, told TradeWinds.
“A key concern in this respect is to ensure ExxonMobil retains the freedom to market those fuels without infringing on any patents that may be held by third parties.
“It is normal industry practice to file patent applications on new fuel formulations in order to protect intellectual property and to ensure freedom of operation in case competitors would develop similar formulations and apply for a patent.”
At the turn of this century, ExxonMobil and some others were forced to pay substantial royalties to Unocal, which had patented its clean gasoline formulas, which were similar to California’s standards.
Global sulphur limits in bunker fuels will be reduced from 3.5% to 0.5% from next year.
ExxonMobil has been rolling out compliant fuels in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Genoa and Marseilles, while promising to supply to North America.
It is one of the first refiners to invest in a processing facility that can upgrade high-sulphur fuel oil into IMO-compliant products.
Two years before the IMO confirmed the sulphur rules in 2016, ExxonMobil had decided to construct a $1bn delayed coker unit at its Antwerp refinery to convert residual oils into low-sulphur fuels.
