Llewellyn Bankes-Hughes

CEO and Founder, Petrospot / ship.energy; Joint CEO, Shipping Innovation; Director, Maritime UK

Llewellyn began his career in the oil industry in 1980, working both as a journalist and as oil broker in London and New York, with Petroleum Argus, Eperon Petroleum, Albion Oil, Petroleum Intelligence Weekly and OPEC Listener, before joining MRC Business Information Group in Oxford – which later became Lloyd’s List Intelligence after MRC’s acquisition by Informa – where he rose to Managing Director before leaving in May 2003 to establish Petrospot Ltd.

He is a Founding Member of the International Bunker Industry Association, which he helped create in 1993 and has organised conferences, seminars, training courses and multiple other events in 35 countries around the world and attended events as a journalist or conference speaker in a further dozen countries.

Petrospot – recently renamed ship.energy to reflect the transition from petroleum to energy – is a dynamic independent publishing, training and events organisation focused on the maritime and energy transition sectors.
Its global publications include Bunkerspot magazine and online information service, the ship.energy decarbonisation intelligence portal and a growing library of books on shipping and bunkering.

Ship.energy organises globally-recognised training courses such as the Oxford Bunker Course and Bunker Experience and a range of bespoke and in house courses run around the world.

Ship.energy also organises major international conferences, including the following which have been created, curated and moderated by Llewellyn: Maritime Week Americas; Maritime Week Gibraltar: Maritime Week Africa; Maritime Week Las Palmas; Madeira Maritime Week; Portugal Shipping Week; and the Middle East Bunkering Convention. Other major events organised by ship.energy include: The Marine Energy Transition Forum; ship.energy Summit; Oman Maritime, Ports & Energy Forum; and Sustainable Marine Fuels Fest.

Llewellyn is co-creator, co-founder and co-owner of the biennial London International Shipping Week, whose first edition took place in September 2013 and has become one of the largest maritime events in the world.

Llewellyn was born in Abergavenny, Wales, in 1957 and lives in Oxfordshire.