The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) on Thursday (30 July) said it will issue eight new licences to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel in Singapore from 1 September.

MPA said the new licences will expand Singapore’s LNG bunkering capacity, strengthen the supporting ecosystem to meet growing demand for LNG bunkering services, and support Singapore’s continued development as a multi-fuel bunkering hub. 

The licences will be awarded to Aramco Trading Singapore, Equatorial Marine Fuel Management Services, ExxonMobil Asia Pacific, PetroChina International (Singapore), Shell Eastern Trading, Sinopec Fuel Oil (Singapore), TotalEnergies Gas & Power Asia (TEGPA)-Sembcorp Fuels (Singapore) Joint Venture, and Vitol Bunkers (S).

“The eight successful applicants were selected following an evaluation of their supply capabilities, commercial plans, operational experience, and safety standards,” MPA said in a statement.

The evaluation also considered their capabilities to monitor and mitigate methane slip and support the supply of methane-based alternatives with lower lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, including liquefied bio-methane and e-methane.

The licences will be valid for five years, from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2031, subject to licensees continuing to meet the relevant licensing conditions. Licensees are required to provide end-to-end LNG bunkering services, including fuel supply, storage, cargo transfer and delivery to vessels. 

The issuance of these licences concludes the Call for Applications launched on 14 January.

To further strengthen safe and reliable LNG bunkering operations, MPA and Enterprise Singapore, through the Singapore Standards Council, will upgrade the existing Technical Reference for LNG Bunkering (TR56) into a Singapore Standard (SS) in August 2026. 

“The new SS will strengthen safety requirements, bunkering procedures, custody transfer and crew competencies, and serve as a common industry reference for LNG bunkering operations in Singapore,” MPA added.

“The SS will enhance Singapore’s LNG bunkering ecosystem and reinforce Singapore’s position as a trusted bunkering hub.”

Related: Singapore: MPA invites applications for new LNG bunkering licences

Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 31 July, 2026

Law firm Mayer Brown on Tuesday (28 July) said Brazil’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) has launched a 45-day public consultation on proposed revisions to the country’s marine fuel specifications, paving the way for routine use of up to 100% biofuel (B100) in vessels while streamlining biofuel blending requirements: 

On July 27, 2026, Brazil’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (“ANP”) published Public Consultation and Hearing Notice No. 15/2026, for the review of ANP Resolution No. 903/2022, which establishes the specifications for waterborne fuels marketed in Brazilian territory (marine diesel oil and marine fuel oil).

The purpose is to incorporate biofuels and renewable fuels into Brazilian waterborne transport, in the context of the energy transition and the International Maritime Organization’s (“IMO”) international decarbonization targets.

The proposal (i) aligns national specifications with ISO 8217/2024; and (ii) is encouraged by the progress of IMO discussions on carbon pricing and incentives for new fuels.

In terms of market context, operations involving the use of biofuels in Brazilian waterborne transport already exist, such that harmonizing national rules with ISO 8217 and the MARPOL Convention will standardize the regulatory treatment applicable to these operations.

The main changes proposed in the draft resolution are as follows.

• The specification tables for waterborne fuels will be restructured, including classes for fuels containing biodiesel.
• Limits and test methods from ISO 8217/2024 will be selectively incorporated, on a partial basis, in line with Brazilian market realities.
• Biodiesel content of up to 100% (“B100”) for regular use in vessels (no longer as an exception), which could be sold directly to the end user.
• Green diesel (“HVO”) and synthetic/GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) fuels will be treated as “drop-in” components, meaning chemically similar to fossil fuels and capable of replacing them without requiring engine or infrastructure adaptation.
• Agents authorized to carry out biofuel blending will be defined, which eliminates the requirement for prior ANP authorization to use blends, replacing it with a simple notification to the Agency.
• Quality control, document traceability, sampling, certification, and fuel identification rules will be improved, in line with the MARPOL Convention.
• Prior experimental authorization from ANP will be provided for alternative fuels not covered by ISO 8217 (ethanol, methanol, ammonia, and hydrogen).
• A prior authorization regime will be established for liquefied natural gas (“LNG”), without an experimental character, given the existence of well-established technical standards and the early stage of Brazil’s national LNG transport and supply infrastructure.

The public consultation will run for 45 days, from July 28 to September 10, 2026. On September 23, 2026, a public hearing will be held to discuss the matter with civil society and regulated agents.

Photo credit: Jeff Doria on Unsplash
Published: 31 July, 2026

Shipergy, the technology-led marine fuels trading company, on Thursday (30 July) announced that it has signed what it believes to be the marine fuel industry’s first energy-adjusted procurement contract. 

Under the multi-year agreement, signed with a European operator, Shipergy procures and supplies marine fuels across the client’s fleet, with its performance formally benchmarked on the cost per unit of energy delivered, measured in dollars per gigajoule ($/GJ), rather than the industry’s traditional cost per tonne.

Shipergy said marine fuel has been bought and sold by the tonne since the industry began, but not all tonnes are equal. The energy content of fuel varies materially between suppliers in the same port, by as much as 5 to 7 per cent for VLSFO, meaning a cargo that looks cheaper on the headline market index can in fact cost more per unit of usable energy. Vessels bunkering lower energy fuel burn more of it to complete the same voyage, with direct consequences for cost, carbon emissions and regulatory compliance.

The new contract addresses this directly. For each covered port, a reference energy value is established from Energy Beacon data and agreed between the parties. Each quarter, Shipergy’s achieved cost of energy delivered, calculated from actual invoice values and laboratory-measured Net Calorific Value on every delivery, is compared against the energy-adjusted market benchmark. Where Shipergy delivers a demonstrated saving, the benefit is shared between the parties under a gain-share mechanism, fully aligning the interests of buyer and supplier for the first time in bunker procurement.

Supplier selection under the contract is driven by Energy Beacon, Shipergy’s proprietary analytics platform that predicts the energy content of marine fuel by supplier and port before purchase, and ranks firm offers on effective cost per megajoule rather than headline price per tonne. 

The platform has been independently validated by an external data scientist across more than 10,000 real production predictions spanning over 1,300 ports, demonstrating a 95 per cent confidence interval of just ±0.024 MJ/kg, equivalent to less than $0.30 per tonne of pricing uncertainty. Every prediction carries a confidence score, and the model is retrained monthly to stay calibrated as bio-blend prevalence and market conditions evolve.

The first stem under the contract, a marine gasoil delivery at a major North West European bunkering hub, was completed in July 2026. The delivery was covered by an independent survey verifying both quantity and quality, including laboratory testing of Net Calorific Value, allowing Energy Beacon’s predicted energy content to be validated directly against measured results. Supplier selection for the stem ran through the full Energy Beacon process: quality screening, energy content prediction by supplier, and ranking of firm offers on effective $/GJ.

Energy-based procurement aligns with where maritime regulation is already heading. FuelEU Maritime accounts for greenhouse gas intensity in energy terms (gCO2eq/MJ), the IMO’s Carbon Intensity Indicator rewards lower consumption, and the EU Emissions Trading System penalises excess carbon. Buying fuel on energy content rather than weight moves procurement onto the same basis as the compliance frameworks shipowners must now answer to.

Daniel Rose, Chief Executive Officer of Shipergy, said: “The market prices fuel in dollars per tonne, but ships do not run on tonnes, they run on energy. Two cargoes at the same price can differ by five per cent or more in the energy they actually deliver, and until now no procurement contract has recognised that.

“This agreement changes the basis on which marine fuel is bought. We are measured, and rewarded, on the true cost of energy delivered to the ship. We believe every fleet will buy this way within a decade.”

Photo credit: Shipergy
Published: 31 July, 2026