Shell expects LNG bunker demand to surge sevenfold to 27m tonnes by 2035, adding a sharper marine-fuel growth story to its wider forecast for global LNG demand to rise by about 65% by 2050, according to Shell’s LNG Outlook 2026.
The group puts LNG bunkering demand at about 4m tonnes in 2025, rising to 27m tonnes in 2035 and continuing higher toward the middle of the next decade.
Shell’s outlook points to a rapid build-out of LNG bunkering capacity. The number of LNG bunkering locations rose from 10 ports in 2016 to 222 in 2025, while the LNG-fuelled fleet, excluding LNG carriers, expanded from 81 ships to 877 over the same period.
A separate shipping chart in the outlook shows 922 operational LNG-fuelled vessels and another 770 on order, also excluding LNG carriers.
The marine-fuel forecast sits within Shell’s broader expectation that global LNG demand will rise from 2025 levels to nearly 700m tonnes per year by 2050. Global LNG trade reached 422m tonnes in 2025, while 2026 trade could remain broadly flat with last year if flows through the Strait of Hormuz return to normal this summer after disruption.
Growth is expected to resume in 2027. Shell forecasts about 180m tonnes per year of new LNG supply entering the market by 2030, but says further investment will be needed in liquefaction and import infrastructure through the 2030s and 2040s.
Around 200m tonnes per year of additional supply will be required beyond projects already under construction.
Cederic Cremers, Shell’s president of integrated gas, said “the LNG industry has proved resilient” in adapting to changing market conditions.
South and Southeast Asia are expected to account for about 40% of global LNG imports by 2050.
Shell also identifies data centres as a new source of power demand in mature Asian markets such as Japan.
Shell plc is a London-based global energy and petrochemicals group. It employs about 85,000 people in more than 70 countries. Its 2025 annual report lists income for the period of $18.1bn, adjusted earnings of $18.5bn and cash flow from operating activities of $42.9bn.
