By Chris Cooper, President of International at Titan Cloud
Change has always been part of the fuel industry, but today’s market shifts feel different—faster, more unpredictable, and harder to ignore. Retailers aren’t just being asked to adapt; they’re being pushed to rethink how they operate from the ground up.
According to Deloitte’s 2025 Oil and Gas Outlook, the companies that stay disciplined with capital, prioritize customer experience, and invest in the right technologies will be the ones that navigate what’s ahead. It’s a timely reminder with the U.S. Energy Information Administration projecting gasoline demand to flatten in 2025, putting new pressure on margins and operational efficiency.
From tightening up wetstock management to reimagining the customer experience at the forecourt, there’s no shortage of opportunities for retailers willing to move forward with focus and urgency.
Here are five of the top trends shaping the global downstream fuel industry in 2025.
1. Reliable Forecourt as a Business Asset
In our recently released Downstream Fuel Industry Report, the message was immediately clear: Customer experience matters. Of those surveyed, 26.9% identified it as their top priority, even though many recognized that delivering a reliable forecourt is a challenge. Fuel-related issues like inefficient asset management were also shown to be a concern, as well as costly maintenance issues and poorly managed infrastructure. All of these can negatively impact the forecourt experience through equipment downtime, runouts, and slow flow.
To combat these challenges, retail operators are moving toward technology adoption, including real-time fuel analytics to pinpoint factors like flow rate drops, filter status updates, and pump performance. Such proactive visibility enables sites to resolve problems quickly and maintain the forecourt consistency customers count on. Happy customers are then more likely to return to the site, and more prone to move from the forecourt to the store, raising revenue.
2. Adjusting for Level Fuel Consumption
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), gasoline consumption in the States is leveling off, with consumption in 2025 expected to be relatively flat. This reflects a global trend, meaning that retailers in every country need to adjust for sales volume loss.
Specifically, fuel operators need to operate as efficiently as possible, optimizing costs and streamlining operations. In our research, we’ve found that roughly 20-30% of total fuel supply chain costs are avoidable, stemming from inefficiencies like excessive stock, poor asset utilisation, and a lack of end-to-end visibility. Viewing even the slightest fuel management challenge as simply a logistical inconvenience is a mistake that could enable a steady erosion of profits.
Conversely, fuel operators investing in integrated technology can not only facilitate the recapture of lost revenue, but enable growth:
3.Navigating a Global Economy
Today’s economic climate represents risks and opportunities for retail fuel operators across international markets. Some risks may be difficult to detect, requiring retailers to react with agility. Geopolitical turbulence, such as conflicts and trade disputes for example, can disrupt oil production and transportation, leading to sudden supply chain interruptions and price spikes.
Meanwhile, a growing global trend towards sustainability and reducing carbon emissions is impacting the fuel sector, with emerging markets turning increased attention toward regulatory compliance. In parallel, evolving legal frameworks are generating new compliance regulations and requirements for fuel operators.
The real opportunity exists for retailers who embrace the connection between compliance, maintenance, and operational efficiency. In adopting required systems—including integrated technology to monitor tanks and identify potential leaks, for example—an operator can also track fuel loss in general. Inventory variance can cost larger retailers millions in revenue every year; implementing a regulatory compliance system that optimizes downstream fuel management overall is a win-win.
“Focus on capital discipline, increasing customer centricity, and investments in new technologies may help companies navigate economic, geopolitical, and regulatory uncertainties in 2025”
– Deloitte 2025 Oil and Gas Industry Outlook
4. All in on End-to-End Solutions
With more international operators entering the market, many can bypass the early-stage learnings of those who came before them. Global retailers recognise the value of end-to-end platforms over point solutions and are increasingly adopting them from the start, gaining immediate benefits in efficiency and scalability.
Doing so means finding the right automated technology to bring all data points to a single decision-making location. Visibility and a centralised hub are also especially critical for global fuel retailers managing data streams from an influx of site controllers.
We see this firsthand. One customer, a well-known fuel retailer with nearly 9,000 sites, came to Titan Cloud for a solution to more accurately diagnose fuel loss factors. The outdated methods they had been using required manual processing of raw data, leading to errors, false investigations and unnecessary write-offs. Integrating Titan Cloud’s wetstock management solution, the operator used fuel analytics to identify inventory loss factors quickly, differentiating between leaks, theft, and calibration issues to more accurately target investigations.
Acquisitive network operators continue to consolidate under common brands. This can result in significant headaches associated with the goal of reciprocating best practices across a range of site solutions. As networks internationalise, a common end point for decision making becomes all the more critical.
5. Data Accuracy Takes Center Stage
Global retail fuel operators are beginning to realize the nearly unlimited potential around harnessing data to grow a more efficient and profitable business. Using data-driven technology can unlock powerful strategic workflows, enable automation, and optimise operations across the board.
The key to successfully implementing such a strategy is starting with the right data. Traditional downstream fuel management systems that manually process raw data leave the door open to errors, which are then fed into calculations. These outdated methods then propagate bad data, triggering cycles that prompt false—and costly—investigations.
Data accuracy is paramount. By enlisting data-centric technology—and companies like Titan Cloud that excel in its development and implementation—fuel retailers across the globe can ensure they are making business decisions using correct factors, not flawed information. Likewise, with more cloud applications in play than ever before, a centralized data lake may soon become an industry imperative. Such a repository would enable organizations to easily access, explore, and analyze diverse data sources to fuel business strategy.
It’s a fast-moving global market. To learn how Titan Cloud can empower you with the technology needed to compete and grow your retail fuel business, speak with one of their solutions consultants today.
