Why Portland

Why Portland

Our credentials

Stability from Volatility

Portland has been bringing its fuel industry know-how to a diverse range of clients since 2009, offering comprehensive and innovative solutions tailored to their needs. We provide a wide range of services, including fixed price fuel, carbon reduction strategies, and market analysis, designed to help you navigate the complexities of the fuel market.

Why you should consider working with us:

Our team consists of professionals who have bought, sold, transported and stored fuel for all of their careers. We not only understand this industry in detail but are passionate about it.

Uniquely, we are able to offer long-term fixed prices on small to medium-sized fuel volumes. Previously, the ability to lock in a price was the preserve of only the very largest fuel purchasers. We have democratised the fixed price offer.

We have worked with some of the world’s largest transport companies, service station operators and public transit organisations, as well as governments and city municipalities. We are trusted to deliver.

We are an official partner of Logistics UK and FORS. These respected organisations trust in our ability to serve them and their members.

We have a proud history of recruiting graduates and school leavers, providing them with a broad experience of our business and enabling them to become dedicated industry specialists.

We never over-promise nor under-deliver. We believe in keeping things simple in our quest to always create Stability from Volatility.

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about us

Our History

Portland was set up in 2009 by James Spencer, who joined the energy sector straight from Cambridge University in 1994. The business started as a specialist hedging provider (The Fuel Trading Company Ltd), offering budgetary certainty to companies with an exposure to movements in the price of fuel.

Our market presence increased throughout the following decade and beyond with the incorporation of three more companies – Portland Analytics, Portland CSO and Portland Fuel, plus the integration of AdBlue® producer Noxdown Ltd. With each company came a wider service offering, growing our capability naturally as Portland has become more deeply connected with our clients’ businesses.

We are proud that we still count many of our original customers as long-term partners to this day, and that we have been able to recruit so many more along the way.

Portland sets up its first office in central York, offering Fuel Price Protection.
2009
Advisory services and oil stock ticket trading are added to the original offer.
2010
Portland delivers its first load of physical diesel to a bus company.
2013
Sales activity commences in Canada and the USA, handled via our UK office.
2014
Portland appears on BBC News for the first time and sets up its second office location in Essen, Germany.
2015
Our unique fixed price fuel card is launched.
2016
UK office moves to a larger location in Toft Green, York.
2017
Portland Pricing, our fuel price data service is adopted by Logistics UK.
2018
Portland sets up its third office location, in Hamilton, Canada.
2019
Our carbon compensation service commences.
2020
Portland becomes the majority shareholder of AdBlue® producer Noxdown Ltd.
2021
Portland Pricing launches the UK’s first end-user market HVO price.
2022
We publish the 150th edition of our flagship monthly Energy Market Report.
2023
Noxdown Ltd moves to new manufacturing premises in Pocklington, East Yorkshire.
2024
FORS partners with Portland to launch a new Fuel Advisory Service.
2025

friendly and knowledgeable

Meet the Team

Meet the dedicated professionals behind Portland’s industry-leading fuel management solutions. Our team combines decades of fuel industry expertise and a commitment to exceptional service and innovative strategies tailored to your needs.

Portland 9.24_James 02
James Spencer
Managing Director
Steve Irwin
Steve Irwin
Group Operations Director
Joe Tuohy
Joe Tuohy
Director, Portland Fuel Holdings
Jon Rosenthal
Jon Rosenthal
Group Marketing Director
Patrick Smith
Patrick Smith
Supply & Trading Director
Mike Johnson
Mike Johnson
Director, Portland Analytics
Conchur Brennan
Conchur Brennan
Director, Portland Fuel Ireland
Connor Wilson
Connor Wilson
IT Manager
Ganga Thapa
Ganga Thapa
Quality Manager
Jake Hookem
Jake Hookem
Group Financial Controller
Oliver Nightingale-Smith
Oliver Nightingale-Smith
Consultant, Portland Analytics
Rhia McCue
Rhia McCue
Operations Manager
Simon Hudson
Simon Hudson
General Manager, Portland Fuel Ltd
Alan Powell - Portland
Alan Powell
Trading Manager
George Southern - Portland
George Southern
General Manager, Portland Fuel Canada

Market Knowledge

Explore Our Monthly Energy Market Reports

October

2025

Do Turkeys ever vote for Christmas? Well, in the case of The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), that might well be the case! Having shown considerable discipline over the last…

September

2025

In an election that was largely ignored by the rest of the world (because of their much noisier neighbours to the North), Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum took office this time last year…

August

2025

Spain and Portugal are still the most popular overseas holiday destinations for UK holiday makers. After all, what could be more Blighty than a Full English in Benidorm, Chips ‘n’ Gravy…

July

2025

At this time of the year we normally deliver a light-hearted “summer special”. That will have to wait, because at the start of July, the UK fuel sector was rocked by…

June

2025

We’ve hit the halfway point of the year and can now look back over the last 6 months to see what oil prices have done since the beginning of the year….

May

2025

At times it seems that there is so much going on in the world, that it is almost impossible to keep up! However, having run a Portland office in Hamilton, Ontario…

April

2025

Over the last 2 months, we have considered the subject of electric trucks and whether they are ever likely to take over from traditional ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles. Our focus…

March

2025

Last month, we covered the topic of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV’s) in the road haulage sector and concluded that the nature of optimised road transport meant a transition to electric mobility…

February

2025

With the news last year that China sold more electric cars than conventional petrol and diesel cars, the automotive press has been alight with speculation around the demise of the Internal…

January

2025

It’s the start of another year and as is now tradition, this report will focus on the last 12 months and how oil markets have progressed in that period. We will…

November

2024

It would be an understatement to say that global geo-political tensions have been uncomfortably high throughout 2024, what with the ongoing wars in Ukraine, Palestine and Lebanon, missile exchanges between Iran…

October

2024

To adequately summarise US energy policy in a few short paragraphs is a nigh-on impossible task; a report on the world’s biggest economy (still) and biggest energy producer should really take…

Download your free copy of our brochure

Download your free copy of our brochure and discover how Portland can optimise your fuel management strategies.

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