Data sources & disclaimer
All figures on BunkerWatch are indicative reference prices for informational purposes. They are not firm supplier quotes and should not be used as the basis of a bunker stem, hedging decision, or commercial commitment.
What we do and don't do
- We use only free/public data sources, listed below.
- We do not scrape Platts, OPIS, Argus, Ship & Bunker, Bunker Index, or broker websites.
- Every stored data point records its source_name, source_url, observation timestamp, and collected_at.
- Each source is labelled with its update frequency — see badges below. If a value is stale we show Last updated rather than presenting it as live.
Public data sources
| Source | Frequency | Provides |
|---|---|---|
| Alpha Vantage | daily | Market tab: WTI/Brent/ULSD/RBOB/Natural Gas commodity series and end-of-day quotes for energy stocks and ETFs (XOM, CVX, SHEL, BP, MPC, VLO, PSX, OXY, COP, XLE, USO, BNO, UGA, UNG). |
| OilPriceAPI | live | VLSFO, HFO 380, MGO, and gasoil prices at Singapore, Rotterdam, Fujairah, Houston, Antwerp, Hong Kong, and other major bunkering hubs. Source-timestamped data via REST API. |
| U.S. EIA Open Data | daily | Brent, WTI, US diesel retail, and US Gulf Coast residual fuel. Also provides the daily VLSFO, MGO and IFO380 (HSFO) reference prices for the major bunker ports surfaced on the dashboard — Singapore, Rotterdam, Houston, Fujairah, Los Angeles / Long Beach, Hong Kong, New York, and Santos. |
| NOAA National Weather Service | live | Active weather alerts near tracked ports. |
| NOAA NDBC | live | Realtime buoy observations: wave height, wind, pressure, sea temperature. |
| NOAA CO-OPS Tides & Currents | live | Tide predictions and water levels for US bunker ports. |
| CFTC Commitments of Traders | weekly | Weekly non-commercial and commercial positioning in crude oil futures. |
| UN/LOCODE | monthly | Reference codes and normalized names for global ports. |
| World Port Index (NGA) | monthly | Port physical characteristics — harbor size, channel depth, services. |
| World Bank Pink Sheet | monthly | Monthly commodity price indexes (manual import from published workbook). |
| IMF Primary Commodity Prices | monthly | Monthly primary commodity price series (manual import). |
Market tab data
Market data may be delayed depending on the provider. Futures, securities, ETF, commodity, and energy-market data are for informational purposes only and are not trading advice. Bunker prices are market indications only and are not firm supplier quotes. Every quote on the Market tab shows source name, timestamp, and whether it is live, delayed, or end-of-day.
We call Twelve Data and Alpha Vantage server-side only, with API keys stored as backend secrets. Symbols with no live data available from any configured provider are simply omitted — the app never displays synthetic or placeholder market values. We do not scrape Yahoo Finance, TradingView, Investing.com, Barchart, CME/ICE pages, or broker sites.
Licensed feeds
The schema is prepared for a licensed bunker pricing feed (e.g. a commercial index provider). Such a feed would only be connected under a written API/data license, and stored prices would then be attributed to that provider on every row.
No liability
BunkerWatch is provided free of charge, as-is, without warranty of any kind. Users are responsible for verifying any price or condition directly with a licensed bunker supplier, port agent, or authoritative weather source before making commercial or navigational decisions.