The initial steps are likely to include strengthening the Energy Efficiency Design Index and the Shipboard Energy Efficiency Management Plans for ships.

"Some sellers are clearing cargoes to make way for March arrivals," a bunker trader said.

Gas4Sea partners will supply LNG bunkers to Equinor's four crude shuttle tankers in Rotterdam.

For large independent upstream producer Noble Energy, 2019 will be a year of transition.

Fuel oil volumes from Rotterdam to Singapore have risen above the 2018 average this month despite sour arbitrage economics to the east.

The usual premium of bunker prices at Istanbul over those at Piraeus, Greece, was negated on Monday.

NYMEX March WTI settled 50 cents higher at $56.09/b Tuesday despite analyst expectations of a further build this week in US commercial crude stocks.

Meech estimates the spread between 0.5% and 3.5% sulfur fuel oil prices to be around $279/mt in 2020.

"Global indices seek direction as market risk sentiment continues to revolve around trade," Phillip Futures said Tuesday.

Trade tensions with US, a weaker global economy and reduced consumer confidence led to the slowdown in energy demand in 2018, Lee said.

A proposal originally submitted by IBIA to add a definition of sulfur content under regulation 2 of MARPOL Annex VI is also garnering support.

There was also a need to decouple the correlation between the growth in GDP and transport demand after 2030, BIMCO said.

Unplanned work at Phillips 66's Bayway, New Jersey, refinery and further sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector helped rally the oil complex Friday.

The US Department of the Treasury on Friday added Venezuelan oil minister Manuel Quevedo to its list of sanctioned individuals