Washington Examiner by Bruce Thompson May 06, 2019
The shale revolution here in the U.S. has reduced energy prices for consumers and saved taxpayers money on heating, cooling, and transportation bills. Because of our record production levels, America is less dependent on imports of crude oil and natural gas, which strengthens our trade balances, enhances energy security, and provides widespread economic benefits.
Now the shale revolution will help shippers across the world comply with the International Maritime Organization’s 2020 standards, called “IMO 2020,†which cap sulfur emissions from ships. These standards will have significant benefits for American competitiveness, public health, and the U.S. shale revolution itself.
IMO 2020 reduces the sulfur content in marine fuels from 3.5% to 0.5%, bringing the global limits more in line with what America has already been doing for years. The United States has a proven track record of producing next-generation fuels that are five times more stringent than IMO 2020 and getting them to market. The rest of the world is just now catching up, and U.S. shale is poised to benefit. Other countries will look to the U.S. for help in procuring fuels needed to comply with IMO 2020.
U.S. industry has invested tens of billions of dollars to upgrade the infrastructure necessary to comply. But less complex European refiners have not. They will need to run their facilities more economically by refining lighter, sweeter crude that naturally has lower sulfur content.
More:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/new-sulfur-caps-for-shipping-fuels-will-help-make-the-shale-boom-even-bigger