ExxonMobil is to spend £500m ($651m) on upgrading a UK refinery partly to boost the production of low-sulphur fuel.
The work on the 270,000-barrel-per-day Fawley plant would add new processing facilities, the Financial Times reported, citing Fawley manager Simon Downing.
A new hydro-treater unit and hydrogen plant will be installed.
Downing said the IMO's new 2020 rules on low-sulphur fuels will boost its business case as the plans go before the company's board for final approval.
Last month, energy trader Gunvor Group halted plans to upgrade its Rotterdam refinery to produce low-sulphur ship fuel.
It cited market conditions for the move, Reuters reported.
Gunvor acquired the 88,000-barrel-per-day refinery from Kuwait Petroleum International in 2016 and had examined an upgrade with a delayed coker unit to capitalise on the IMO's new fuel regulations coming into effect in 2020.
"The price environment and other relevant economics have changed considerably since Gunvor first began exploring the concept a year ago," the company said.
