Following Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez’s decision yesterday (29 January) to approve a law that will enable the country’s oil industry to move towards privatisation, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced a general licence which allows a restricted relaxation of sanctions against Venezuela. The licence permits US entities to engage in some closely defined activities involving oil of Venezuelan origin. This includes authorising interaction with the Government of Venezuela, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), or any entity in which PdVSA owns, directly or indirectly, a 50% greater interest, in relation to the ‘lifting, exportation, reexportation, sale, resale, […]

The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) has issued a new Unified Requirement (UR H2) that sets out a safety framework for ammonia release mitigation systems (ARMS) on ammonia-fuelled ships. UR H2 defines harmonised requirements for the design, workshop and onboard testing regimes, certification requirements and operational readiness criteria of ARMS. It covers a range of mitigation concepts, including dissolution tanks, scrubbers, combustion units and dilution systems. ‘This publication represents an important step towards harmonised global standards for ammonia-fuelled ships,’ said Eva Peno Jimenez, IACS’ Safe Decarbonisation Panel Chair. ‘By providing a common technical reference, the UR supports designers, shipowners, […]

In the newly-published Version 3.2 update of its Alternative Fuels Insight, Japanese classification society ClassNK has reported that ‘the second half of 2025 was characterised by a growing “wait-and-see” attitude toward the adoption of alternative fuels’, with the consequence that ‘the share of alternative fuelled vessels in the orderbook decreased from 23.3% at the end of June 2025 to 20.8% at the end of December 2025.’ ClassNK added up that, within the alternative fuel category, there was ‘a notable shift back to LNG-fuelled vessels’, as ‘the share of LNG-fuelled vessels (excluding LNG carriers) among alternative fuel orders expanded from 49% […]