Bunker Fuel Market (By Fuel: High Sulfur Fuel Oil [HSFO], Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil [VLSFO], Marine Diesel Oil [MDO], and Liquefied Natural Gas [LNG]; By Application: Tanker Fleet, Glass Container Fleet, Bulk & General Cargo Fleet, Others; By Seller: Major Oil Companies, Leading Independent Sellers, and Small Independent Sellers) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, Revenue, Regional Outlook and Forecast 2021-2030

According to Vision Research Reports, the global bunker fuel market size is expected to surpass around US$ 180 billion by 2030.

The global bunker fuel market size was valued at US$ 145 Bn in 2020 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 3% during the forecast period 2021 to 2030.

Currently, fuel oil is widely used as bunker fuel. However, other middle distillate fuels are also utilized as bunker fuels. Fuel oil employed as bunker fuel can be categorized into intermediate fuel oil (IFO), marine gas oil (MGO), marine diesel oil (MDO), high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO), and very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO)

Some of the factors that are expected to fuel market growth include a significant rise in demand for marine diesel oil and steady adoption of low-sulfur fuel oils. Stakeholders in the current bunker fuel market should invest their resources in improving the availability of marine diesel bunker fuels and liquefied natural gas. The regulations laid down by the International Marine Organization will continue to fuel the growth of the bunker fuel market during the forecast period, as a shift from high sulfur fuel oils toward LNG and marine diesel oils can be observed.

Rise in international seaborne trade is boosting the global bunker fuel market. The global seaborne trade is performing well, supported by the upswing in the world economy. Seaborne trade leads to shipping, intercontinental trade, bulk transport of raw materials, and import/export of affordable food and manufactured goods. Increase in offshore exploration and production, due to the rise in demand for resources such as crude oil, coal, steel, and iron, is estimated to propel the demand for bunker fuel in the near future. Rapid technological development has boosted oil & gas exploration activities at deep offshore locations and other marginal oil & gas fields.

Companies supplying bunker fuel have strategically opened bunkering divisions in ports that are close to major offshore hydrocarbon basins, as bunkering requirements are significantly high for some offshore support vessels. Thus, growth in offshore exploration and production activities is projected to drive the global bunker fuel market in the near future.

Report Highlights

In terms of seller, the leading independent sellers segment accounted for a dominant share of the global bunker fuel market in 2020. Leading independent distributors have well-established setup that includes blending facility, storage terminals, and own physical assets. 

Based on application, the tanker fleet segment constituted prominent share of the global bunker fuel market in 2020, due to the rise in demand for crude oil, petroleum products, chemicals, and liquid raw material in various regions. The tanker fleet segment comprises specialized purpose-built vessels designed to carry liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) under pressure. The bunker fuel market in Asia Pacific is likely to expand at a substantial pace during the forecast period, owing to rapid urbanization and industrialization in the region.

Asia Pacific is anticipated to be a highly attractive region of the global bunker fuel market during the forecast period, due to rapid industrialization and urbanization in the region, especially in countries such as China, India, and Japan. Furthermore, ports in China account for nearly a third of global container traffic. The country has the largest merchant fleet in the world in terms of number of ships. However, Singapore dominates the bunker fuel market in Asia. Around 48 million metric tons to 50 million metric tons of bunker fuel were sold in Singapore in 2020, making it the world’s largest bunkering hub. The country dominates the market due to its vast commercial storage capacity and fuel blending capabilities.

Europe accounted for a major share of the global bunker fuel market in 2020. Furthermore, the region is home to the world’s largest shipping fleet. Increase in seaborne trade with Asia Pacific is anticipated to propel the bunker fuel market in the region during the forecast period. 

Rise in Demand for Alternate or Low Sulfur Fuel 

• Widely used bunker fuel for ships is heavy fuel oil, which is economical and easy available. It is obtained from crude oil distillation.
• Crude oil contains sulfur, which ends up in ship emissions on combustion. Sulfur dioxide is harmful to human health. It can cause respiratory issues and lung diseases. It may also lead to acid rain and acidification of oceans.
• Alternate fuel or low sulfur fuel oil needs to be used extensively to overcome the sulfur dioxide emission from ships. The International Maritime Organization, under the annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (known as the MARPOL Convention), has implemented regulation on sulfur emission from ships.
• Sulfur emission from ships has been limited to 0.50% from January 01, 2020. This is estimated to significantly reduce the quantity of sulfur dioxide emission from ships.
• Thus, ships need to use fuel oil with inherently low sulfur content in order to comply with the IMO MARPOL regulation. Refineries can add additives and blend the fuel oil to lower the sulfur content. Additives are also projected to enhance other properties such as lubricity.
• Demand for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) as alternate fuels is also increasing. LPG combustion results in lower CO2 emissions vis-à-vis oil-based fuels, due to its lower carbon-to-hydrogen ratio. LPG virtually eliminates sulfur emissions and can comply with low sulfur regulation.
• Consequently, demand for low sulfur fuel oil and alternate fuel is likely to increase in the near future in order to comply with the emission norms 

Key Players

The global bunker fuel market is dominated by multinational as well as small players operating across the globe. Prominent players operating in the global bunker fuel market include Total, Neste, Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Brightoil Petroleum (Holdings) Limited, BP., Saudi Arabian Oil Co., Gazprom, LUKOIL, BP Sinopec Marine Fuels, Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Exxon Mobil Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell plc, World Fuel Services Corporation., GAC, and BUNKER HOLDING.

Market Segmentation

Market By Fuel

• High Sulfur Fuel Oil (HSFO)
• Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil (VLSFO)
• Marine Diesel Oil (MDO)
• Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

Market By Application

• Tanker Fleet
• Glass Container Fleet
• Bulk & General Cargo Fleet
• Others (including Passenger Ferries, Cruise Ships)

Market By Seller

• Major Oil Companies
• Leading Independent Sellers
• Small Independent Sellers

Market By Region

• North America
  • U.S.
  • Canada
• Europe
  • Germany
  • U.K.
  • Norway
  • Greece
  • Russia & CIS
  • Rest of Europe
• Asia Pacific
  • China
  • India
  • Japan
  • Singapore
  • Rest of Asia Pacific
• Latin America
  • Brazil
  • Mexico
  • Rest of Latin America
• Middle East & Africa
  • GCC Countries
  • Turkey
  • Rest of Middle East & Africa

This report focuses on bunker fuel market includes crucial information on market share, market size, and growth rate for the forecast period 2021 to 2030 at the global level, regional level and company level. From a global perspective, this report represents overall bunker fuel market size by analyzing historical data and future prospect. The study highlights deep analysis on the major drivers of the market, restraints, and challenges to help the business owners, suppliers, and marketing personnel in planning effective strategies for the forecast period. This will help the business and manufacturers to lead the market and gain prominent position in future. The report also presents vital information through graphical representation on factors like table, charts, and statistics. The study includes drivers and restraints of the global bunker fuel market.

The research not only conducts forecasts in terms of value, but also evaluates the market on the basis of essential parameters, such as Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) growth. This helps providers to recognize the future opportunities as well predictability of the market.

In order to understand and assess opportunities in this market, the report is categorically divided into five key sections on the basis of segments. The report analyzes the global market in terms of value (US$ dollers) and volume (Million Units).

The research report includes specific segments by region (country), by company, by all segments. This study provides information about the growth and revenue during the historic and forecasted period of 2017 to 2030. Every segment is further sub-segmented into several sub-segmented that are deeply analyzed by experts to offer valuable information to the buyers and market players. Understanding the segments helps in identifying the importance of different factors that aid the market growth.

Major Key Points Covered in Report:

Executive Summary: It includes key trends of the bunker fuel market related to products, applications, and other crucial factors. It also provides analysis of the competitive landscape and CAGR and market size of the bunker fuel market based on production and revenue.

Production and Consumption by Region: It covers all regional markets to which the research study relates. Prices and key players in addition to production and consumption in each regional market are discussed.

Key Players: Here, the report throws light on financial ratios, pricing structure, production cost, gross profit, sales volume, revenue, and gross margin of leading and prominent companies competing in the Bunker fuel market.

Market Segments: This part of the report discusses about product, application and other segments of the bunker fuel market based on market share, CAGR, market size, and various other factors.

Research Methodology: This section discusses about the research methodology and approach used to prepare the report. It covers data triangulation, market breakdown, market size estimation, and research design and/or programs.

Regional Analysis

The research report includes a detailed study of regions of North America, Europe, China, Japan and Rest of the World. The report has been curated after observing and studying various factors that determine regional growth such as economic, environmental, social, technological, and political status of the particular region. Analysts have studied the data of revenue and manufacturers of each region. This section analyses region-wise revenue and volume for the forecast period of 2017 to 2030. These analyses will help the reader to understand the potential worth of investment in a particular region.

The report provides in-depth segment analysis of the global bunker fuel market, thereby providing valuable insights at macro as well as micro levels. Analysis of major countries, which hold growth opportunities or account for significant share has also been included as part of geographic analysis of the bunker fuel market.

The report includes country-wise and region-wise market size for the period 2017-2030. It also includes market size and forecast by segments in terms of production capacity, price and revenue for the period 2017-2030.

Competitive Landscape

This section of the report identifies various key manufacturers of the market. It helps the reader understand the strategies and collaborations that players are focusing on combat competition in the market. The comprehensive report provides a significant microscopic look at the market. The reader can identify the footprints of the manufacturers by knowing about the global revenue of manufacturers, the global price of manufacturers, and sales by manufacturers during the forecast period of 2017 to 2019.

The analysts have provided a comprehensive analysis of the competitive landscape of the global bunker fuel market with the company market structure and market share analysis of the top players. The innovative trends and developments, mergers and acquisitions, product portfolio, and new product innovation expected to provide a dashboard view of the market, ultimately providing the readers accurate measure of the current market developments, business strategies, and key financials.

Major manufacturers & their revenues, percentage splits, market shares, growth rates and breakdowns of the product markets are determined through secondary sources and verified through the primary sources.

Top-down and bottom-up approaches are used to estimate and validate the global market size for company, regional division, product type and application (end users) and other segments.

• Company Overview
• Company Market Share/Positioning Analysis
• Product Offerings
• Financial Performance
• Recent Initiatives
• Key Strategies Adopted by Players
• Vendor Landscape
• List of Suppliers
• List of Buyers

Research Methodology

The research methodology adopted by analysts for compiling the global bunker fuel market report is based on detailed primary as well as secondary research. With the help of in-depth insights of the market-affiliated information that is obtained and legitimated by market-admissible resources, analysts have offered riveting observations and authentic forecasts for the global market.

During the primary research phase, analysts interviewed market stakeholders, investors, brand managers, vice presidents, and sales and marketing managers. Based on data obtained through interviews of genuine resources, analysts have emphasized the changing scenario of the global market.

For secondary research, analysts scrutinized numerous annual report publications, white papers, market association publications, and company websites to obtain the necessary understanding of the global bunker fuel market.

The study objectives of this report are:

• To analyze and study the global market capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2017-2021) and forecast (2021-2030);
• Focuses on the key manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.
• Comprehensive company profiles covering the product offerings, key financial information, recent developments, SWOT analysis, and strategies employed by the major market players
• To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.
• To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.
• To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.
• To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.
• To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market
• To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market
• To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.