Sunken freight rates for clean tankers due to a global demand decline amid the coronavirus pandemic has left the arbitrage from the US Gulf Coast to Asia wide open for naphtha, but the route to Europe for ultra low sulfur diesel remains shut despite a drop in USGC demand.

"A lot of my discussions are around credit now," a shipowner said.

"In this time of global crisis, it is more important than ever to keep supply chains open and maritime trade and transport moving," the ICS

European refiners are expected to maximize crude runs, despite coronavirus hitting demand for their fuels, in a bid to lock in surging refining margins as a result of the oil price rout. But moves to process cheap crude may be short-lived as oil product storage tanks reach capacity and fuel demand continues to slump on expanding travel curbs, according to regional trading sources.

Growing refined product imports into Latin American have pushed some countries to make fuel specification changes that help better align their demand with international supply, and more changes are potentially on the way.

Scrubbers still form a vital part of their IMO 2020 compliance strategy as well as a means of hedging bunker fuel risks.

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday ended consideration of a potential overhaul of how oil pipelines set their rates, a decision welcomed by pipeline owners who want to keep the current indexing system that allows annual rate increases.

As oil prices continue to crash dramatically, oil traders are looking to hold more barrels in storage to cope as the oil markets face a supply glut caused by a lack of OPEC+ cuts and the impact of coronavirus on oil demand.