Shipowners' organisation Bimco is quizzing members over "bad bunker" deals in a bid to help US authorities.
It said a survey has been emailed following a request from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
"We ask members for their experiences and data with bad bunkers in order to collect data for EPA to potentially be used as evidence in cases against bad bunker suppliers," it added.
Bimco received reports that more than 100 ships were supplied with fuel that was contaminated in the first half of 2018.
In these cases, the samples could pass the standard analysis when compared against the ISO standard 8217. But the fuels were contaminated with products which normally should not be in the fuel supply chain, namely phenolic compounds and long-chain fatty acids.
The two compounds can be discovered by additional tests but at an increased cost: $2,000 versus $300 for a standard test.
Bimco said the testing industry does not have the capacity to undertake the scale of examination currently required.
"These cases worry us at Bimco," it said, adding that it contacted authorities in the US, Panama and Singapore asking for evidence that the bunker states are exercising their obligations stipulated in MARPOL.
The EPA replied to Bimco and asked for assistance in their investigation of the case arising from Houston or other US ports.
Questions sent to members include:
Have you bunkered contaminated fuel in the US?
Name of the ship?
Date of bunkering?
Name and address of the bunker supplier?
If there was a damage, what was the extent of damage?
Was a claim forwarded to the bunker supplier?
What was the result of such a claim?
