Argus Unveils FuelEU Maritime Benchmarks to Drive Compliance Trading

The FuelEU Maritime regulation, now in its second year, mandates that vessels over 5,000 gross tonnage operating in EU waters reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2% compared to 2020 levels, a threshold that will ramp up to 80% by 2050. To meet these targets, operators are increasingly turning to low-carbon alternatives like bio-LNG and biodiesel or utilizing the regulation’s pooling mechanism to aggregate fleet-wide compliance.

Historically, this secondary market operated with limited visibility. Daniel Gent, Marine Fuels Transition Lead at Soya Group, noted that the lack of price transparency previously hindered the efficiency of pooling deals. By providing a fuel-agnostic, weekly spot price in €/t CO2 equivalent, Argus aims to give charterers and owners a reliable reference point for bilateral negotiations and long-term contract fixing.

Beyond pooling, the initiative introduces specific abatement prices for bio-LNG, used cooking oil methyl ester (Ucome), and Dutch Advanced Fame. These figures allow companies to perform comparative cost analysis across different fuel pathways, helping them identify the most economical route to compliance. Adrian Binks, chairman and chief executive of Argus, stated that the development was a direct response to industry demand for clearer data to manage the complexities of modern maritime environmental obligations. These benchmarks, published alongside EU Emissions Trading System Allowance data, provide a structured framework for companies to monetize surplus positions while streamlining their fuel purchasing strategy.