[Eric in the Ozarks]

The soot issue suggests they may be targeting N6 oil, used in most of the big ocean ships and on the Great Lakes. I saw a study by PIRA that suggested the world does not have enough diesel fuel to replace all the residual oil now going into the shipping industry as motor fuel.
On the sulfur issue, if the ships run ULSD, what are they going to use to replace the lubricant that sulfur imparted to these big engines ? A pal at one of the shipping lines suggested "sulfur pellets" which would be dropped in the bunker, every few hours...

[thackney]

I saw a study by PIRA that suggested the world does not have enough diesel fuel to replace all the residual oil now going into the shipping industry as motor fuel.

Perhaps technology like the Chevron pilot plant at Pascagoula could be used to convert the residual oil to diesel fuel, using the same volume of hydrocarbons but broken down to smaller chains.