SIBCON 2026 at the Resorts World Convention Centre, Singapore. Image Credit: Ship & Bunker

The Singapore International Bunkering Conference and Exhibition (SIBCON) 2026 was held at Resorts World Sentosa from October 13-15, organised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) under the theme Charting a Resilient Multi-Fuel Future.

It attracted more than 2,000 delegates from over 60 countries.

The biennial event, first held in 1988, included 12 panel discussions over its two main conference days, all held under the Chatham House rule.

Ship & Bunker reported the key takeaways from each, and also had the opportunity to put questions to MPA Chief Executive Ang Wee Keong.

Below is a guide to that coverage, in the order the sessions ran.

Interview: MPA Chief Executive Ang Wee Keong

As part of SIBCON 2026, Ship & Bunker put questions to Ang Wee Keong, chief executive of MPA, on the port's competitiveness and resilience after a year of Hormuz and Red Sea disruption, its readiness for a multi-fuel future, and the next phase of digital bunkering. Read the full interview here.

Panel 1: Geopolitics, Trade Disruptions and IMO Developments

The opening keynote panel heard that the disruption that began with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz at the end of February has settled into a new normality of high prices and patchy supply, and that the lesson for Shipping is that even when the current crisis is resolved there will be another one, with the debate on alternative fuels now as much an energy security question as a climate one. Read the full takeaways here.

Panel 2: Demand Vs Supply, Fuel Market Outlook to 2030

Bunker buying has switched from price-led to supply-led, the fuel market outlook panel heard, and the answer the market is reaching for is partnership: pooled demand, supply guarantees three to six months out, and suppliers and buyers planning port by port. Read the full takeaways here.

Panel 3: Shipowner's Fuel Decision Today, Cost, Risk and Reality

Shipowners want clarity from regulators more than lower ambition, this panel heard, summed up in one participant's line that "I can price in a tough regulation, but I can't price in a regulation that's missing", with a dual-fuel newbuild seen as the no-brainer capex decision against the risk of a single-fuel ship becoming a stranded asset. Read the full takeaways here.

Panel 4: Fuelling the Present and Bridging the Future, the Market for Conventional and Biofuels to 2030

The question is not which future fuel replaces the roughly 300 million tonnes of conventional fuel oil Shipping burns today but what combination of fuels takes what share of it, the panel heard, and on a realistic five-year horizon biofuels were seen as the winner, with LNG alongside and conventional fuel still a very large part of the mix. Read the full takeaways here.

Panel 5: Fleet Transition, Retrofits and Propulsion Pathways

Nobody should order a single-fuel ship any more, this panel heard, because a dual-fuel engine is a hedge against fuel availability and insurance that gets the fleet to 2050, and a ship ordered today arrives in three years, leaving time to change the fuel choice if the IMO narrows the options. Read the full takeaways here.

Panel 6: Maritime Digitalisation, Unlocking Value Across Fuel Supply Chains

Singapore spent a decade on measurement integrity with mass flow meters, and the next decade's challenge is data integrity, the digitalisation panel heard: a digitally signed bunker delivery note from a compromised system is just a signed lie, and the answer to a fragmented industry is interoperability rather than another platform. Read the full takeaways here.

Panel 7: Decarbonising Shipping, From Pilots to Scale

Day two opened with a keynote panel that likened bunker fuel pilots to concept cars, proving what is possible but not that it is commercially viable or can scale, and heard that scale comes only when credible demand, supply investment, and policy move at the same pace. Read the full takeaways here.

Panel 8: The Role of International Regulation in Shaping Market Certainty and Fuel Transition Pathways

If the IMO fails again in December to agree a global emissions reduction framework, the regulation panel heard that the biggest risk to Shipping is a patchwork of regional carbon rules that double-count emissions and tax trade without funding the transition, with adoption of the Net-Zero Framework as it stands seen as unlikely this year. Read the full takeaways here.

Panel 9: The Evolving Supply Landscape, Alternative Fuels Production and Availability

Shipping sends the weakest price signal of the industries competing for low-carbon fuels and feedstocks, the supply panel heard, because other sectors have mandates that make those fuels a need-to-have while for Shipping they are still a nice-to-have, and a dual-fuel ship does not mean the alternative fuel gets lifted. Read the full takeaways here.

Panel 10: Shipowner's Fuel Map of Tomorrow

The key design question for a ship ordered today is not what fuel flexibility it has on delivery but whether its fuel system can be changed or adapted five or 10 years on, the fuel map panel heard, because looking to 2030 is the wrong horizon for a ship that will still be trading in 2050. Read the full takeaways here.

Panel 11: LNG, New Investment, Market Share and Emission Management

LNG bunkering demand is set to double within two to three years as the orderbook delivers, the LNG panel heard, and the pressure point is not getting the molecules but a bunker barge network agile enough to serve ships in the secondary ports they now call at. Read the full takeaways here.

Panel 12: Strengthening Singapore's Competitive Edge as a Global Bunkering Hub

The closing Singapore roundtable asked how long the port can stay number one after 38 years and a record 56.7 million tonnes of sales last year, and heard that ships come for the whole ecosystem and the trust behind it rather than the fuel price, so the next competitive advantage has to be found in digitalisation and in the standards around green fuels. Read the full takeaways here.