Image credit: Image file / Pixabay

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Taiwan state-owned oil and gas company Chinese Petroleum Corporation (CPC Corporation) has confirmed that it has discontinued the supply of marine diesel oil (MDO) as of March 1.

As a result of the new measure, which affects all the key ports of Kaohsiung, Taichung, Keelung, Hualien and Suao, bunker buyers that were previously purchasing MDO as their preferred distillate product now look set to spend around $15 per tonne more on marine gas oil (MGO), according to historical price differentials between the two fuel grades.

As Bunker Index reported last month, CPC also stopped the sale 30 centistoke (cSt) marine fuel on February 1.

The country's Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) recently announced that it will require ships to use marine fuel with a maximum sulphur content of 0.5 percent from January 1, 2019 - a year ahead of the global sulphur cap implementation date.

In an effort to incentivize the early switch to lower-sulphur fuel, MOTC explained that it will be providing an NT$5,000 ($171) subsidy to vessels that already comply with the upcoming regulation.