Finland-headed oil refiner and renewable products producer Neste Oyj has announced that it will go ahead and invest in new renewable products production capacity at its Rotterdam biorefinery in the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The decision is based on demand for renewable products growing substantially with customers' higher climate ambitions.
Neste’s current 1.4 million tonnes per annum capacity for renewable products in Rotterdam is the largest in Europe.
In March 2021, Neste announced that it had selected its Rotterdam biorefinery as the location for possible world-scale biorefinery.
The investment in the expansion of our Rotterdam refinery strengthens our global leading position in renewable products, said Matti Lehmus, President and CEO of Neste.
It also marks an important step in ensuring our future competitiveness and our renewables’ growth strategy execution as it will bring a substantial amount of renewable diesel, SAF, and renewable feedstock for polymers and chemicals to our sustainability-focused customers Matti Lehmus added.
A month later, in April 2021, Neste revealed that it would invest around EUR 190 million to modify the existing production capacity in Rotterdam to enable the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
Almost double Rotterdam production
The Rotterdam refinery expansion investment of approximately EUR 1.9 billion will expand Neste’s overall renewable product capacity by 1.3 million tonnes per annum, bringing the total renewable product capacity in Rotterdam to 2.7 million tonnes annually, of which sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production capability will be 1.2 million tonnes.
The company’s target is to start up the new production unit during the first half of 2026.
This investment will further strengthen our competitive advantages which are based on the global optimization of our production and waste and residue raw material usage, Matti Lehmus said.
Global renewable products player
Neste currently has a global annual renewable products production capacity of 3.3 million tonnes.
Neste’s ongoing Singapore expansion project and the joint venture with Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) in Martinez, California (CA), which is still pending closing, will increase the total annual production capacity of renewable products to 5.5 million tonnes by the end of 2023.
This will make Neste the only global provider of renewable fuels and renewable feedstock for polymers and chemicals with a production footprint on three continents.
When completed, the Rotterdam expansion project will further increase the company’s total production capacity of renewable products to 6.8 million tonnes per annum by the end of 2026.
With our proprietary NEXBTL technology, high-quality renewable products can be refined flexibly from a wide variety of lower-quality waste and residues. The new production line – together with our Singapore expansion – will be best in class in terms of energy efficiency and raw material flexibility, ended Matti Lehmus.
