Low Sulfur Fuel Oil Market – Segmented By Technology And Geography – Growth, Trends, And Forecast
Residential heating
oil is also referred to as fuel oil. It is a middle distillate
petroleum product and is similar to jet fuel and kerosene. In the
past few years, fuel oil and diesel were considered to be identical.
The same refined petroleum product was procured andsold through gas
stations as highway fuel and as heating oil by dealers.In the present
scenario, residential heating oil is considered to be different from
highway fuel for two main reasons: firstly, in 1990s, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)has passed a regulation that
diesel oil used for transportation purpose should have a sulfur
content of less than 500 parts per million. However,for heating oil,
sulfur content was kept in the range of 2,000 ppm to 2,500 ppm.
Further,the highway fuels are taxed on per unit price by both federal
and state governments, in order to raise revenue and to provide
funding for highway trust funds. Since heating oil is not taxed on
the same lines as that of highway fuel, it is dyed in cranberry red
color to differentiate it from highway fuel.
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The heating oil
industry has a vast experience of supplying heating products and
services especially in the United States. In 1940s, oil acted as a
substitute for replacing coal as primary heating source in the U.S.
As compared to coal, oil was less expensive, cleaner and highly
efficient. For these evident reasons, it has been widely utilized in
the United States and throughout the world. Majority of the companies
that were in the business of selling coal and ice, starting becoming
retailers of heating oil and eventually the industry started growing
at a healthy rate.Huge proportion of these oil businesses were
family-owned and have been in existence over the years. Due to this
characteristic, the heating oil industry occupied a unique position
in the U.S. market.
While reducing the
sulfur content in highway diesel, a slight impact was made on the
sulfur content in heating oil. As per the designated industry
standards 5,000 ppm was considered as the top line for sulfur in
heating oil. The average stocks for heating oil tend to lie in the
range of 2,000 ppm to 2,500 ppm. This is majorly due to the spillover
effect from refining of highway dieselas refineries manufacture
heating fuel and transportation diesel by the same processes. The
sulfur content in oil, then primarily depends on the place where the
process was carried out.
In the present
scenario, refineries produce low sulfur diesel fuel that meets all
the parameters laid down by Environment Protection Agencyespecially
for transportation usage. Since heating oil and diesel is essentially
the same product, dealers are taking the advantages of selling the
low sulfur fuel as heating oil. Currently, heating oil must contain
less than 0.5 percent sulfur to comply with ASTM standards. However,
the difference in price of oil and low sulfur oil is considered to be
very less. Ifdemandfor low sulfur fuel oil increasesat a healthy rate
the price differential should be reduced to zero. The analysis
carried out by regulating authorities compares low sulfur heating oil
and traditional heating oil in many areas such asquantity of residue
deposited,air pollutant emissions, estimated environmental impactsand
costs associated with equipment maintenance.
Stringent
environmental rules and regulations and strict government norms of
various countries are some of the key drivers of the low sulfur fuel
oil market. However, less knowledge among people regarding low
sulfurfuel oil can hamper the growth of the market in the near
future. Advancements in technology bring new opportunities for low
sulfur fuel oil market.
Some of the key
companies in the business of low sulfur fuel oil are Neste Oil, Exxon
Mobil Corporation, Marathon Petroleum Company LP, R.W. Davis Oil
Company, Whiteley Fuel Oil Company, Lehigh Fuels LLC,Chevron
Corporation and United Metro Energy Corp.
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