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ENGINE: The Week in Alt Fuels: Golden B100 window

In the past week, ENGINE has seen delivered 100% used cooking oil methyl ester biofuel (UCOME B100) indicated way above its estimated UCOME cargo price in Singapore.
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7 months ago

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Bunker tanker “MT MAPLE” owned Global Energy Group

Sometimes first-movers can gain an advantage by offering products that others can’t with handsome margins to show for.

That is what’s happened in certain biofuel bunker markets. Bunker suppliers with chemical bunker tankers seem to be reaping the rewards of their investments with sizeable bunker delivery price premiums.

In the past week we have seen delivered 100% used cooking oil methyl ester biofuel (UCOME B100) indicated way above our estimated UCOME cargo price in Singapore. If bunker suppliers fix stems at these price levels, it could help their payback times on chemical tanker investments.

To break down our estimate, PRIMA Markets has assessed UCOME FOB China – a major producer – at $1,000-1,015/mt in the past week. The freight rate for a 40,000 mt medium-range tanker sailing from China to Singapore has been $15/mt. Delivered B100, meanwhile, has been indicated at $1,290-1,300/mt, which leaves $260-285/mt to cover logistics costs like storage, handling and delivery to a receiving ship with a chemical bunker tanker.

That looks like a chunky bunker margin compared to estimates from the ARA, where we have recently seen delivered UCOME B100 fixed at both $5/mt premium and $5/mt discount to Argus UCOME barges, a key benchmark for UCOME pricing in the region. B100 bunker prices are sharper in the ARA not just because of a more established pricing index, but because a greater number of suppliers can offer B100. They are not bound by the same biofuel delivery vessel restrictions as in other bunker locations.

So-called IMO Type II chemical tankers – which can also typically supply methanol – are required to be allowed to supply bio-bunker blends above 25% in ports outside of the ARA, where stems are delivered by river barges exempt from the IMO rules. A growing number of bunker suppliers have invested in them, but only a few of these vessels have entered into operation yet.

Vitol Bunkers, Global Energy, Fratelli Cosulich, BMT, Stena Oil and Peninsula are among the few suppliers with chemical bunker tankers in their fleets that can deliver B100 stems in non-ARA ports today. Singaporean Consort Bunkers has placed orders for up to 20 of these chemical tankers, while Fratelli Cosulich has another two on order and Peninsula-affiliated Hercules Tanker Management has six with an option for another four.

TFG Marine’s Singapore entity will take four of Consort Bunker’s vessels and one of Fratelli Cosulich’s vessels on time charters. TotalEnergies and Mitsui & Co. have both supplied B100 in Singapore with Global Energy’s Maple chemical tanker.

Because of early entries into this burgeoning B100 market, these suppliers are among the only 1-3 suppliers in a given bunker location. Biofuel bunker demand to date has mostly revolved around Scope 1 and 3 emission reductions, with container liners and car carrier companies as typical uptakers.

But with FuelEU Maritime less than a month away, more companies will be enquiring about stems with higher biofuel contents. They will run some vessels on B100 and average out their greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity reductions across a pool of vessels, or sell their compliance surpluses in one of the many over-the-counter markets that have popped up.

That leaves a golden pricing window for forward-thinking bunker suppliers as biofuel goes from niche to necessity for more EU-trading vessels.

In other alternative news this week, a string of headlines showed that LNG is still very much in vogue.

LNG bunker supplier Titan has expanded a deal to supply mass-balanced liquified biomethane (LBM) to Norwegian shipping firm United European Car Carriers’ (UECC) dual-fuel LNG vessels. Since July, over 95% of the fuel delivered to UECC’s vessels by Titan has been mass-balanced LBM.

More and more fleet renewal programmes boast lower-carbon vessels. A.P. Moller-Maersk has had bragging rights for its methanol-capable container ship orders this decade, before recently pivoting to LNG orders and getting some flack from environmental organisations. This week it put in orders for 20 container ships with LNG-capable engines, and with that it concluded its fleet renewal order target this time around.

And Canadian bunker supplier Seaspan Energy has delivered its first ship-to-ship LNG bunker stem to a container ship in California’s Port of Long Beach.

By Erik Hoffmann

 

Photo credit: Global Energy Trading
Source: ENGINE
Published: 9 December, 2024

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Biofuel

Chimbusco Pan Nation bio bunker fuel supply volume in H1 2025 surpasses 2024 total

Company supplied over 78,000 metric tonnes of marine biofuel in Hong Kong in the first six months of 2025, surpassing its total biofuel supply for the whole of 2024.

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July 7, 2025

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Chimbusco Pan Nation bio bunker fuel supply volume in H1 2025 surpasses 2024 total

Hong Kong-based marine fuel oil supplier Chimbusco Pan Nation Petro-Chemical (CPN) on Friday (4 July) said it has supplied over 78,000 metric tonnes (mt) of marine biofuel in Hong Kong in the first six months of 2025.

As such, the company said its biofuel volume for the first half of the year exceeded its total biofuel supply for the whole of 2024. 

“This record-breaking achievement highlights our commitment to sustainability and innovation in the maritime industry,” the company said in a social media post. 

“From January to June 2025, our team surpassed last year’s total, proving that dedication and excellence knows no limits—and exceeded 2024 by 80%!”

Manifold Times previously reported CPN setting a record for China’s largest B24 marine biofuel bunkering operation.

CPN delivered 6,300 mt of B24-VLSFO in Hong Kong to container ship XIN LOS ANGELES on 15 May. The supply exceeded CPN’s previous record of 5,500 mt delivered to the same ship in February 2025.

In April, the company also commenced supply of B30 biofuel in Hong Kong. 

Related: Hong Kong: CPN hits new record for China’s largest B24 biofuel bunkering operation
Related: CPN achieves largest B24 bio bunker fuel delivery in Hong Kong and China
Related: Chimbusco Pan Nation launches B30 bio bunker fuel supply in Hong Hong

 

Photo credit: Chimbusco Pan Nation Petro-Chemical
Published: 7 July, 2025

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Bunker Fuel

Titan adopts FuelBoss by Ofiniti for digital bunkering and live delivery insights

Per-Christian Dettwiler, CPO of Titan, says the firm has reached a scale where manual coordination and paper-driven workflows are no longer sustainable and needed a digital platform that can evolve with it.

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July 7, 2025

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Titan adopts FuelBoss by Ofiniti for digital bunkering and live delivery insights

Ofiniti, a provider of digital solutions for maritime bunker operations, on Thursday (3 July) said LNG bunker fuel supplier Titan Clean Fuels (Titan) is adopting its FuelBoss platform to meet higher demand for cleaner marine fuels and offer digitalised bunker operations. 

Ofiniti said Titan, which started as a small-scale LNG bunkering initiative, has rapidly evolved into a larger regional player in LNG and bio-LNG. 

“Confidence is continuing to grow in the sector, with recent reports showing that LNG accounts for 87 of the 151 alternative-fuelled vessels ordered in H1 of 2025,” the company said in a social media post. 

Subsequently, Titan is bolstering its capacity to handle higher demand with the FuelBoss software providing a digital backbone for increasing operational planning, scheduling and execution.

“We have reached a scale where manual coordination and paper-driven workflows are no longer sustainable. To maintain reliability, efficiency, and transparency across our growing operations, we needed a digital platform that can evolve with us. FuelBoss gives us the structure and visibility to execute consistently – no matter the vessel, port, or partner involved,” said Per-Christian Dettwiler, Chief Operating Officer of Titan.

FuelBoss enables real-time delivery coordination between vessels, suppliers, terminals, surveyors, and customers. This means reduced operational friction, more transparent communication, and the ability to meet the rising expectations of a broad customer base from cruise operators to deep-sea cargo fleets. 

“Titan exemplifies what a future-ready marine fuel supplier looks like: fast-growing, ambitious, and uncompromising on service quality. With clients spanning both regulated and high-performance environments, they expect structured, digital workflows by default, with eBDN being a part of this. We’re proud to support Titan on their mission to scale clean fuel delivery with confidence,” said Martin Christian Wold, VP Business Development of Ofiniti.

 

Photo credit: Ofiniti
Published: 7 July, 2025

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Biofuel

Argus Media on European bio-bunkers: Prices diverge, abatements firm

Marine biodiesel blend prices diverged along the type of biofuel used, as prices for Advanced Fame-based blends picked up while Ucome-based blends eased, says Argus.

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5 days ago

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July 3, 2025

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resized argusmedia

European marine biodiesel prices diverged as prices in underlying markets also diverged on Tuesday.

2 July 2025

In prompt biodiesel markets, outright used cooking oil methyl ester (Ucome) and Advanced Fatty acid methyl ester (Fame) 0 barge prices rose sharply at the close. In fossil markets, the front-month Ice Brent crude and gasoil futures contracts diverged again at 16:30 BST. Delivered VLSFO and MGO prices were mostly close to steady in ARA and GAC, except for VLSFO dob ARA, which fell by $10/t.

Marine biodiesel blend prices diverged along the type of biofuel used, as prices for Advanced Fame-based blends picked up while Ucome-based blends eased. Calculated B30 Advanced Fame 0 dob ARA prices, which includes a deduction of the value of Dutch HBE-G renewable fuel tickets, gained $2.38/t to $725.70/t. And calculated B100 Advanced Fame 0 dob ARA prices also increased by $31.29/t to $1,215.18/t — a one-year high.

B30 Ucome dob ARA values, on the other hand, eased by $5/t to $820/t, reflecting reported market indications. In the west Mediterranean, Argus assessed B24 dob Algeciras-Gibraltar lower by $10/t on the day at $750/t, also in line with indications.

Argus assessments for FuelEU Ucome-MGO abatement and Ucome-VLSFO abatement prices firmed by $8.88/tCO2e to $323.80/tCO2e and by $12.89/tCO2e to $363.70/tCO2e respectively. The increase in Ucome fob ARA prices outpaced higher MGO barge levels, while VLSFO fob northwest Europe values edged lower on the day, lending support to abatement prices.

EU ETS prices rebounded to $82.40/t from $80.46/t, but ETS-inclusive premiums held by marine biodiesel blends against their fossil counterparts mostly widened. B30 Ucome dob ARA’s ETS-inclusive premium to VLSFO dob ARA rose by $3.73/t to $289.11/t. B30 Advanced Fame 0’s ETS-incorporated premium to VLSFO gained $11.11/t to $194.82/t, while B100 Advanced Fame 0’s premium to MGO firmed by $28.43/t to $379.75/t, a two-month high.

But the ETS-inclusive premium held by B24 dob Algeciras-Gibraltar to VLSFO dob GAC narrowed by about $13/t to $184.89/t.

 

Photo credit and source: Argus Media
Published: 3 July, 2025

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