About 30% of the low sulfur bunker fuel tested globally in 2012 did not meet specifications, a Det Norske Veritas Petroleum Services manager said Wednesday at the Bunkering in Asia conference in Singapore.

Rahul Choudhuri, Asia-Pacific regional manager for the fuel tester, said 70% of those off-spec cases were in Europe and 14% were in the US.

LSFO has a maximum 1% sulfur content.

Last year, DNVPS warned the bunker industry about 11 cases of problems with aluminum and silicon levels, up from seven cases in 2011, Choudhuri said. It also found more cases of density problems, with 16 cases in 2012, compared with 13 in 2011.

The testing firm found seven cases of fuel with problematic sodium levels in 2012, up from none in 2011, while sediment issues were seen in seven cases in 2012, up from five the year before, he said.

The ISO 8217 standards for 380 CST bunker fuel set maximum levels of aluminum and silicon at 60 mg/kg, density at 991 kg/cu m, sodium at 100 mg/kg, and sediment at 0.1%.

Choudhuri said the rise in off-spec fuel directly correlates to the North American Emission Control Area taking effect August 1, when suppliers had to start blending more components to meet the maximum 1% sulfur cap requirement.

He pointed to the 19 bunker alerts issued by DNVPS for the US in 2012, compared with six alerts in 2011. The main issues in the 19 alerts pertained to aluminum and silicon, sediment and density, he added.

While Choudhuri did not have 2013 figures, he said alerts for the US market amounted to "about half" of the global total.

As of April, the US Environmental Protection Agency has received about 250 fuel oil non-availability reports from shipowners, and the US Coast Guard has issued 203 Emission Control Area deficiencies. Three of those cases were deemed "detainable," which means authorities can detain a ship for not burning compliant fuel, Choudhuri said.

As emission regulations get more strict, the market appears to be looking to distillate fuels to meet sulfur caps, he said. But this brings another set of potential problems, such as low viscosity, low lubricity, low flashpoint, high pour point and high acid, he said, adding that none of these issues are treatable on board the vessel once bunkered.

For instance, low lubricity would result in fuel pump seizures, low viscosity would result in internal leakage of components, high acid levels would result in corrosion to the fuel injection equipment, and high pour point would clog filters, Choudhuri said.

About 17% of distillate fuels tested globally in 2012 were off-spec, he said.