ABSTRACT
There are a large number of bunker suppliers. They number well over four hundred worldwide. They have sprung into the gap which has opened up in the last twenty years following the retreat from the oil markets of the major oil companies; the newcomers have therefore been most useful in maintaining and, indeed, extending worldwide availability of marine fuels for the shipping industry. The main international problem was the very sudden and very large strain put upon the world’s economy as a whole. The industrial countries were forced to tighten their belts and change their ideas. In contrast, the major oil companies’ marine lubricants marketing systems still remain dominant. They are strongly based on high-quality products, coupled to worldwide availability and good aftersales service. This company was started by Demetrius Schofield in 1861, but it was only when a large oil field was discovered under Los Angeles twenty years later that significant production was achieved.
