Driven by the implementation of the FuelEU Maritime regulation, Gasum’s maritime bio-LNG sales skyrocketed from 0.8% of its total gas volumes in 2024 to 12.3% in 2025. This exponential growth underscores the viability of the methane pathway for shipping decarbonization, utilizing compliance pooling mechanisms to help shipowners meet tightening European emission targets.
Helsinki | May 21, 2026 – Nordic energy expert Gasum has reported a massive surge in its maritime liquefied biomethane (bio-LNG) sales, revealing that the renewable fuel accounted for 12.3% of its total maritime gas volumes in 2025.
This represents a seismic shift from 2024, when bio-LNG comprised a mere 0.8% of the company’s maritime portfolio.
The exponential growth offers the clearest statistical evidence yet that the European Union’s stringent new decarbonization frameworks are fundamentally reshaping global shipping procurement. Analysts and industry insiders point to the FuelEU Maritime regulation, which entered into force on January 1, 2025, as the primary catalyst for this rapid market maturation.
The FuelEU Catalyst and the ‘Methane Pathway’
The maritime industry, historically reliant on heavy fuel oil (HFO), has faced immense pressure to decarbonize. While various alternative fuels like ammonia and hydrogen remain years away from large-scale commercial viability, Gasum’s performance underscores the immediate scalability of the “methane pathway.” Because bio-LNG can be dropped directly into existing LNG-fueled vessels without modification, it has emerged as the pragmatic choice for shipowners scrambling for regulatory compliance.
“This is a very positive development that clearly shows the viability of the methane pathway in decarbonizing shipping,” said Jacob Granqvist, Vice President of Maritime at Gasum. “We anticipate a continued growth in biomethane volumes going forward, since we see that the demand for lower-emission fuel solutions continues to strengthen.”
The FuelEU Maritime directive mandates a phased reduction in the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of energy used on board ships trading in the EU, starting with a 2% drop in 2025 and accelerating up to 80% by 2050. By substituting conventional LNG with bio-LNG—which can reduce well-to-wake GHG emissions by up to 100% depending on the feedstock—shipowners can easily beat the baseline targets.
Supply-Demand Dynamics: Gasum’s Maritime Gas Portfolio
The shift in Gasum’s sales mix highlights how quickly regulatory penalties can convert a premium product into a commercial necessity.
2024 Sales Composition:
- Bio-LNG: 0.8%
- Conventional LNG: 99.2%
2025 Sales Composition:
- Bio-LNG: 12.3% (Up from 0.8%)
- Conventional LNG: 87.7% (Down from 99.2%)
Arbitrage and Compliance: The Power of Pooling
A critical driver of Gasum’s 2025 sales spike is an institutional mechanism embedded within the EU framework: compliance pooling.
Under FuelEU Maritime, compliance is not strictly evaluated on an individual ship-by-ship basis. Instead, the regulation allows for a pooling mechanism. Ships that over-comply by burning high-concentration bio-LNG can generate “compliance surpluses.” These surpluses can then be pooled with, or sold to, under-complying vessels, such as those running entirely on conventional LNG or fossil fuels.
This financial and operational flexibility has altered the economics of bunkering:
- Cost Sharing: Ship operators can aggregate their fleets or form pools with other companies, distributing the green premium of bio-LNG across multiple vessels.
- Asset Optimization: Shipowners do not need to retroactively supply every vessel with biofuels; instead, they can heavily bunkering a select few LNG-fueled vessels with bio-LNG to green an entire fleet on paper.
- Risk Mitigation: The pooling mechanism has created a secondary market for carbon intensity credits, effectively subsidizing the higher cost of biomethane through compliance cost savings.
To capitalize on this, Gasum has actively deployed its own FuelEU Maritime pooling service, positioning itself not just as a molecular supplier, but as a compliance manager for international fleets.
The Next Battleground
Despite the triumphant figures of 2025, Gasum warns that the momentum could stall without aggressive structural changes across the European continent. The transition from a niche 0.8% market share to a mainstream 12.3% share has pushed existing supply chains to their limits.
To sustain this trajectory, Granqvist highlighted three critical imperatives for the European energy market:
- Ramping Up Domestic Production: While bio-LNG is scalable due to existing LNG infrastructure, the raw production of biomethane from organic waste must scale up dramatically to meet the compounding demand of the global fleet.
- Eliminating Cross-Border Friction: Fractured regulatory tracking and uncoordinated gas grid injections across EU member states threaten supply security. Gasum is calling for unhindered, harmonized trade of biomethane certificates across borders.
- Market Liquidity: A robust, transparent, and mature European trading market for bio-LNG is required to provide long-term price visibility for cautious shipowners.
“To sustain the positive development, it is essential to maintain momentum in Europe,” Granqvist concluded. “Continued progress will require increased biomethane production, an unhindered trade across borders, and the further development of a strong and growing European market for biomethane.”
As the maritime sector faces increasingly stringent EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) costs and tightening FuelEU targets, the 2025 data from Gasum proves that the green transition is no longer a boardroom projection, it is actively playing out at the bunker market.
About Gasum
The energy company Gasum is a leading Nordic gas sector and energy market expert. The company offers clean energy solutions and expert market services for heavy industry, combined heat and power (CHP) production, and the road and maritime transport sectors. By providing sustainable fuel alternatives, Gasum helps its clients reduce both their own carbon footprints and those of their end consumers.
Together with its partners, Gasum is actively driving the transition toward a carbon-neutral future on land and at sea. The Gasum Group employs approximately 380 professionals across Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany, and is wholly owned by the State of Finland.
Source: Gasum