Introduction: US residual fuel oil demand recently hit a record-low 154,000 b/d less than a decade after demand was closer to 1 million b/d, according to US government statistics. The precipitous decline is a direct result of refineries looking to maximize production of high-value products such as middle distillates and gasoline and minimize production of low-value products like fuel oil, which typically sells for less than the crude oil used to make it. Rising natural gas production also has lead to a greater reliance on that product for power generation at the expense of fuel oil. However, there appears to...