INTERVIEW: New Dan-Bunkering US Chief Sees Oil and Gas as Key to Growth

Christian Vandvig Finnerup has become managing director of Dan-Bunkering USA as of November 1. Image Credit: Dan-Bunkering

Marine fuel sales to oil and gas firms will be crucial to bunker demand growth in the Americas in the coming years as perceptions change on the ongoing role of fossil fuels, according to Dan-Bunkering's new manager for the region.

Christian Vandvig Finnerup has taken on the Houston-based role of managing director of Dan-Bunkering USA as of November 1, managing the company's sales across the Americas.

Finnerup had joined Dan-Bunkering as a trainee directly from business school in Copenhagen in 2009, before specialising in the offshore segment as senior trader and becoming regional offshore manager for Europe, and then subsequently moving to Singapore as commercial director in 2022.

The company's US unit currently sells just short of 1 million mt/year of marine fuels in the Americas, including a few sales outside the region but managed by this part of the business.

"There's no doubt that the Americas have grown into one of our key markets," Finnerup said in an interview with Ship & Bunker.

"Before our team established an entity here, there was limited business in the US.

"The organisation's growth journey has been impressive, and I'm proud to be here to lead this next chapter."

Oil & Gas Growth

Coming from an offshore background and being based in Houston, Finnerup takes a strong interest in sales to oil and gas companies, with the tanker-dominated US Gulf market taking a prominent role in the region's sales.

This segment will be prominent in the US unit's future business, he said, particularly with predictions of oil and gas now playing a role in the global economy for much longer than previously expected.

"I think we're going to have an uptick again," Finnerup said.

"Realistically, oil and gas is a part of the future scope; now the IEA is talking about peak oil in 2050, no longer 2030, which was the narrative for the past couple of years.

"I think that realization is going to lead to a lot of work."

Tariff Impact

Recent global trade tensions under the Trump Administration have been a key talking-point in the US and beyond, with concerns being raised over slowing global trade leading to lower bunker demand.

But Dan-Bunkering is yet to see a dramatic impact on bunker volumes in the Americas, Finnerup said.

"I'm relatively new to the US market, but discussing it around the table with people, it doesn't seem to have trickled down," he said.

"It still seems not to have affected - at least not on a substantial scale - the day-to-day operations of our customers."

Bunker volumes in the US Gulf, New York and LA/Long Beach markets were 6.9% lower in the first half of 2025 than in the same period a year earlier, according to Ship & Bunker and 2050 Marine Energy's quarterly market survey. Sales for all areas covered by the survey rose by 0.4% over the same period.

Decarbonisation

Alternative fuel markets have been slower to emerge in the US and surrounding region than in Europe and Asia thus far.

There are some signs of these markets now evolving, but progress remains slow, and EU regulation remains the key driver without any global IMO GHG deal in force yet.

"The recent IMO postponement of any global agreement seems to be showing the position in the US," Finnerup said.

"That said, there's multiple projects that we are involved in and discussing.

"Short term, the straight actions are done with our customers that go in and out of the EU - they will of course be picking up some of the biofuels and doing EUAs as required.

"In the US itself, it's driven by customer demand. That could be the cruise segment; some of those owners and operators have a natural interest in their profile in being more sustainable."

Finnerup does not expect alternative fuels to be a big part of the business he manages in the near future, but the company is poised to join whatever projects emerge in these markets as they grow.

"We're staying very much involved, we're keeping on our toes and talking to our clients about it," he said.

"We benefit from being part of a global company, with new fuels experts who are continuing to work hard to prepare the maritime sector for new fuels.

"And we're very much interested in potential partnerships and off-take agreements in the US. But in the very short term, it just doesn't seem to be at the top of the agenda for our US clients."

American Exceptionalism

Finnerup brings to the role the perspective of having worked in marine fuels in two different regions before, Europe and Asia.

Coming to the US, the main cultural difference he has observed thus far is the extent to which the local market operates in a self-contained manner, independently from other parts of the world.

"What has struck me the most, being here for close to two months now, is how much the US is its own market," he said.

"When I was in Singapore, it was closely linked to Europe.

"There was a much more integrated system between the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Whereas over here, it's much more us as the US."