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Spain's Cepsa has signed an agreement with alternative fuel supplier Quadrise and shipping firm Maersk to trial Marine MSAR - a product that is being marketed as a lower cost and potentially environmentally safer alternative to heavy fuel oil.

The trials are scheduled to begin in the first half of 2016, and will see the fuel supplied from the Gibraltar-San Roque refinery to Maersk ships following the installation of an MSAR manufacturing unit at the site. Installation and operation permits are currently being sought for the new unit, CEPSA said today in a statement.

The trial program is expected to run until the end of 2016, or early 2017 when engine tests on the fuel are due to be completed. Subsequently, the sale of the fuel from the refinery would be made following regulatory and commercial approvals.

"We are delighted to have this opportunity to meet the fuel requirements of a leading partner in the marine industry with Maersk using a pioneering technology from Quadrise. Cepsa has been a leader in marine fuel technology for many years and this agreement will help to consolidate our position," said Federico Molina, head of Cepsa's Refining Unit.

Cepsa is a supplier of bunker fuel operating in South Europe, the Canary Islands, Central America, Africa and the Middle East with installations in Spain, Morocco, Fujairah and the Panama Canal. Last year, Cepsa launched DMB 0.1%, a low-sulphur marine fuel, to meet new Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) standards.

Quadrise has developed its MSAR fuel to provide an alternative for shipping, refining and power generation markets. Its oil-in-water emulsion fuel technology is said to make heavy hydrocarbon residues easier to use by producing a lower viscosity oil mixed with water. Alternative fuel emulsions, which are water in oil, are produced from heavy fuel oil. By emulsifying refinery residues, as opposed to heavy fuel oil, the refiner is able to create more value, and also a lower-priced fuel, by selling the distillates that would traditionally be blended into its heavy fuel oil.