MEPC 84: Bunker industry looking for clarity at MEPC 84 amid geopolitical uncertainty

IBIA Chair, Adrian Tolson was interviewed by ship.energy to discuss the bunker industry’s search for regulatory clarity at MEPC 84, highlighting how geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and disrupted supply chains are increasing uncertainty, price volatility, and risk.

Having recently ticked his off his 40th year in the marine fuel industry, there’s not a lot Adrian Tolson hasn’t seen in bunkers. But as the newly-elected Chair of IBIA – The International Bunker Industry Association explains to ship.energy, the geopolitical uncertainty caused by the current situation in the Middle East Gulf is arguably unprecedented and only serves to underline the importance of regulatory progress at this week’s MEPC 84.

‘It is hard to conceive of a more challenging time in the marine fuel industry to take on the role of Chair of IBIA,’ wrote Adrian Tolson earlier this month. And he should know. A veteran of the bunker industry, this month marks 40 years since Tolson began his career with Chemoil on the US West Coast. In that time, he has seen how the bunker industry has responded to multiple external pressures. From wars in the Middle East and Ukraine sending energy markets into turmoil, to a global financial crash whose effects would be felt far and wide. But as Tolson explains to ship.energy at this week’s MEPC 84 meeting in London, the current situation in the Middle East Gulf, is potentially unique.

‘I’m not sure if this is bigger than those previous geopolitical events, or it’s just another one of those, but from my point of view, it just feels bigger,’ says Tolson. ‘I think the world is going to have to look at everything very differently.’

Nowhere is this truer than for energy supply chains. Like much of the global economy, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz – a critical maritime chokepoint for the flow of oil and LNG – has had a seismic impact on the bunker sector. Within three weeks of the US-Israel attacks on Iran the price of oil-based marine fuel at the Middle East bunker hub of Fujairah had more than doubled.

‘Everybody will be looking for alternative supply chains, a more secure supply chain, making sure that they’ve got a strong contractual relationship with a reliable counterparty,’ says Tolson. ‘It is hard for most shipowners right now to even get offers for term contracts needed to ensure security of bunkering. Bunker suppliers equally need supply chain security from their suppliers who are the refiners or cargo traders. Understandably, as some supply chains have been disrupted they increasingly look to source from different counterparties on which they can depend.’

Read the full interview here: https://ship.energy/energy/mepc-84-bunker-industry-looking-for-clarity-at-mepc-84-amid-geopolitical-uncertainty-says-ibia-chair/