据路透社6月24日吉隆坡报道，全球最大的独立石油交易商维多的一名高级官员周一表示，该公司已开始在马来西亚的储油终端建造一座小型炼油厂，为船舶提供低硫燃料。

维多集团总裁兼首席执行官Kho Hui Meng表示，该项目包括一个原油蒸馏装置，每天可处理3万桶原油，与马来西亚南部柔佛州Tanjung Bin的储油终端位于同一地点。

Kho表示，该项目预计将于2020年5月完工，并将扩大维多在阿联酋富士拉的炼油厂，为船舶提供低硫燃料油。

根据国际海事组织的要求，全球航运业将从2020年开始改用含硫量0.5%或更低的船用燃料。

德国Uniper和阿拉伯联合酋长国Brooge石油和天然气投资公司（BPGIC）等公司正在扩建其工厂或在阿联酋东海岸的富士拉建造一座新炼油厂，以满足不断增长的需求。

Kho表示，马来西亚新炼油厂将能够加工市场上多种低硫原油，包括维多交易的美国西德克萨斯中质原油。

他表示，由于该地区目前的低硫燃料库存将在明年年中之前被消耗殆尽，维多新炼油部门的低硫燃料生产将及时满足日益增长的需求。

预计到2020年燃料需求将大幅增长，各大石油公司和贸易公司正在储备低硫船用燃料。

李方征 编译自 路透社

原文如下：

Vitol building Malaysian oil refinery to meet new low-sulphur ship fuel rules

Vitol, the world’s largest independent oil trader, has started building a small oil refinery at its storage terminal in Malaysia that will provide low-sulphur fuel for ships, a senior company official said on Monday.

The project consists of a crude distillation unit that can process 30,000 barrels per day of crude and is located on the same site as Vitol’s oil storage terminal at Tanjung Bin in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, Vitol Asia’s President and Chief Executive Officer Kho Hui Meng said.

The project is expected to be completed in May 2020 and will augment Vitol’s refinery in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates in providing low-sulphur fuel oil for ships, Kho said.

The global shipping industry will switch to marine fuel, known as bunker fuel, containing 0.5% sulphur or less from the start of 2020, down from the current 3.5%, as mandated by the International Maritime Organization.

Companies such as Germany’s Uniper and the United Arab Emirates’ Brooge Petroleum and Gas Investment Co (BPGIC) are either expanding their plants or building a new refinery in Fujairah, a ship refuelling hub on the east coast of the UAE, to meet rising demand.

The new Malaysian refinery will be able to process a wide variety of low-sulphur oil available in the market including U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude that Vitol trades in, Kho said.

Production of low-sulphur fuel from Vitol’s new refining unit will be just in time to meet rising demand as current stockpiles of such fuel in the region would have been drawn down by the middle of next year, he said.

Major oil companies and trading houses are stocking up low-sulphur bunker fuels in anticipation of a surge in demand for the fuel in 2020.