---

Bunker company Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. has indicated that it is now benefitting from bigger margins from sales in Northwest Europe and North America as a result of new legislation that came into effect from January 1, 2015.

Since January, vessels operating in the Emission Control Areas (ECAs) of Northwest Europe and North America are now required to run on marine fuel with a sulphur content not exceeding 0.1 percent, utilize an exhaust gas cleaning system - also known as a scrubber system - or opt for an alternative green solution such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) or electric propulsion. Prior to the new legislation, ships were able to burn bunker fuel with a maximum sulphur content of 1.0 percent whilst operating in ECAs.

During Aegean's quarterly earnings call on March 17, Ben Nolan, director at brokerage and investment banking firm Stifel Nicolaus asked E. Nikolas Tavlarios, Aegean's president: "My first [question] has to do with the little sulphur regulations that came into effect in January. It would seem as though, and you guys have indicated that that should have a positive impact on your business, but we are two-and-a-half months into the year. Is there anything anecdotally that maybe you could share as to whether or not you are now seeing those impacts working through into the business, and how is that coming through? I mean, are you able to capture more market share or are you able to generate better margins on that type of fuel? What sort of things are happening as a function of that low sulphur?"

In reply to the question, Tavlarios said: "This affects North America and sort of the Northwest Europe area, Ben, which I would say together represents roughly 20 percent of our business. As you look at it, anything that you sell before that was 1.0 percent sulphur product. Today in those areas, you're selling the 0.1 percent sulphur product. And yes, we are definitely seeing that those products are carrying a higher profit margin than the 1 percent sulphurs. So it is visible, it exists in those markets, and that is a portion of our total product mix. And yes, it is definitely something we are seeing in those areas."

In 2014, Aegean sold 11,332,385 metric tonnes in all markets as sales volumes rose by 14 percent compared to the previous year. The 20 percent figure mentioned by Tavlarios therefore means that the company is currently selling around 2.266 million tonnes of product in ECAs per annum.