What moved the bunker market this week?

Every Friday our market intelligence team analyses the developments influencing bunker prices, fuel availability and global shipping. Read the week’s key stories, understand what’s driving the market and what bunker buyers should be watching next.

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Galveston lines up a second LNG bunker project

Mexican LNG company Énestas will support a liquefaction and bunker facility that US supplier Power LNG plans to build at the Port of Galveston, Texas. Énestas will supply transport and storage equipment for the harbour-side terminal on Pelican Island, allowing deliveries to start by truck while the wider project is built.

Power LNG said in June the plant will open with 400,000 gallons/day (610 mt/day) of capacity and 3 million gallons (11,000 cbm) of storage. Bunkering is due to begin in 2027 and production in December 2028.

It is the second such project at the port. Stabilis Solutions is developing a 350,000-gallon/day (540 mt/day) liquefaction facility due on stream in 2028, alongside a bunker business that has completed 97 LNG deliveries in the port.

Zhoushan bunkering restarts at inner anchorages

Bunker deliveries resumed at Zhoushan’s more sheltered Xiushandong and inner Mazhi anchorages on Wednesday, after a six-day suspension caused by adverse weather from Typhoon Dolphin, a source said.

Operations remained suspended at the outer Tiaozhoumen and Xiazhimen anchorages, and most suppliers were still uncertain when bunkering across Zhoushan would fully resume. The stoppage has tightened supply despite muted demand. Suppliers recommend lead times of about 11 days across all three grades this week, up from around 10 days.

Insurers pull war risk cover in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

Marine insurers including UK P&I, London P&I, Gard and NorthStandard cancelled war risk cover this week for ships insured on fixed-premium terms in parts of the southern Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, following a similar move by Skuld.

The cancellation takes effect on 16 August and applies to owners, charterers and other optional cover. Mutual P&I cover is unaffected, as is the extra war risks cover that goes with it. Waters within 12 nautical miles of the coast are mostly exempt, but not the Bab el-Mandeb shipping lane, the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast or the Yemeni coast. London P&I and Skuld will look at buy-back deals to reinstate cover, and Gard plans to extend its existing option to the wider area.

Norway to remain a FuelEU third country until at least 2028

FuelEU Maritime will not take effect in Norway before 1 January 2028, the country’s Ministry of Climate and Environment said on Wednesday.

For Norwegian and Icelandic ports to count as EU ports under the regulation, FuelEU must first be incorporated into the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement and written into Norwegian law. Until that happens, both countries’ ports are treated as third-country ports. That means only half the energy used on voyages between a Norwegian or Icelandic port and an EU port counts towards FuelEU compliance, Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) legal adviser Marte Hustveit Hauge said. Energy used on voyages within Norway, or between Norway and non-EU countries, does not count at all.

The NMA floated a 1 January 2026 start last year before reversing course days later and deferring entry into force to later in 2026 – a timeline that has now slipped again.

TUI Cruises doubles down on LBM in Europe

German cruise operator TUI Cruises will step up its use of liquefied biomethane (LBM) across its European voyages. The dual-fuel cruise ship Mein Schiff Relax runs entirely on LBM in northern Europe through the summer. Its sister ship Mein Schiff Flow has bunkered LBM regularly in Barcelona since May. LBM had cut the company’s emissions by around 26,000 mtCO2e by July, and chief executive Wybcke Meier expects total cuts of 50,000 mtCO2e this year.

First STS LNG bunker delivery in Civitavecchia

Silversea Cruises’ dual-fuel cruise ship Silver Ray took a 750-cbm (335 mt) LNG stem at the Italian port of Civitavecchia on Sunday, in the port’s first ship-to-ship (STS) LNG bunker operation. Bunker suppliers Axpo and Vitol delivered the stem with the chartered LNG bunker vessel Green Pearl. It was the first LNG stem in the port since it adopted a framework in May setting out safety requirements for STS operations.

Spanish bunker sales rose 9% year on year in June

Bunker suppliers in Spanish ports sold 853,000 mt of fuel in June, 9% more than a year earlier, government data showed. That is comfortably above the five-year monthly average of 775,000 mt and the highest monthly total since November 2025.

Algeciras posted the largest gain by volume, up 47,000 mt, or 20%, to 285,000 mt, followed by Tenerife, up 21,000 mt, or 45%, to 68,000 mt. Valencia recorded the largest fall, down 16,000 mt, or 29%, to 40,000 mt, although its first-half volumes were 10% higher than last year.

Algeciras accounted for 33% of national sales in June, ahead of Las Palmas on 25% and Barcelona on 16%.First-half sales edged up 1% to 4.8 million mt. Vigo, Sevilla and Gijón have reported little or no
supply this year after selling normally in 2025. If those are reporting gaps rather than genuine stoppages, the underlying rise was nearer 2%.

Read the weekly bunker market news from last week here.

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