Regulations

Norway to raise domestic biofuel bunker mandates

July 3, 2025

Bunker suppliers serving Norway’s domestic shipping sector must ensure that biofuel makes up at least 7% of all sales in 2026 and 8% in 2027, the country’s environment agency said.

PHOTO: Aerial view of Bergen port in Norway. Getty images

The Norwegian Environment Agency introduced a 6% bunker sales requirement for domestic maritime transport in October 2023.

While it does not cover international shipping, the mandate includes fuel used for vessels, aquaculture facilities and installations on the Norwegian shelf.

The biofuel reporting process requires bunker supplier to document their sales volumes and where it is used on an annual basis.

The agency acknowledges that some have voiced concerns that ships could opt to bunker outside of Norway to avoid any increased costs from buying biofuels. It will monitor this going forward.

A total of 704 million litres of biofuel was sold to the roads fuels, aviation and shipping sectors in Norway in 2024, data from the Norwegian Environment Agency shows.

The data does not specify whether it was hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) or fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). If it was HVO it would have been 542,000 mt, and 614,000 mt if it was FAME.

Some 61 million litres of that was sold to ships. That equates to 48,000 mt of HVO or 54,000 mt of FAME.

The biofuels sold in Norway are mainly made from raw materials sourced abroad, with biofuels from China, the US and Malaysia accounting for 60% of imports.

Some 62% of biofuels sold domestically in 2024 were made from used cooking oil (UCO), about half of which came from China.

The government’s bunker sales mandate can only be met by using advanced biofuels, which are made from waste- and residue feedstocks with few other uses, like UCO.

Sales of these advanced biofuels to all sectors have increased in recent years: