Bunker market looks for extended credit lines as IMO 2020 nears.

Shipowners and creditors are scrambling for additional credit lines to cover the anticipated rise in low sulfur fuel oil prices post IMO 2020, market participants said this week.

About $4 billion/month of extra credit will be needed starting 2020 to cover the rise in demand for LSFO and shipowners are already demanding longer payment windows as the market dynamics shift, Adrian Tolson, Senior Partner at 2020 Marine Energy quoted as saying to SandP Global Platts. "There will undoubtedly be more [credit] risk...unless customers opt for scrubbers, each client will need a larger credit facility to buy today's equivalent of new compliant products," a Middle Eastern bunker trader said.

Valuations for low-sulfur fuels are set to rise going into 2020, with a gradual uptrend in demand starting this year as...