Shell Nederland Raffinaderij B.V., a subsidiary of Shell plc, has announced that it has made a decision not to restart construction of its planned biofuels facility at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, which began in 2022 and was paused in the latter half of 2024.
According to a statement, the decision follows an in-depth commercial and technical evaluation to reassess the project’s competitiveness. Shell concluded that it will no longer proceed with the project.
As we evaluated market dynamics and the cost of completion, it became clear that the project would be insufficiently competitive to meet our customers’ need for affordable, low-carbon products. This was a difficult decision, but the right one, as we prioritise our capital towards those projects that deliver both the needs of our customers and value for our shareholders, said Machteld de Haan, President of Shell’s Downstream, Renewables and Energy Solutions.
Shell is taking action to be the investment case and partner of choice through the energy transition. Between 2023 and 2024, Shell has invested US$8 billion in lower carbon options, including power, carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen, and low-carbon fuels.
In 2024, Shell traded over 10 billion litres of low-carbon fuels and sold 10 times more than it produced. In the same year, it became one of the world’s leading suppliers of SAF.
We continue to believe that low-carbon molecules, including biofuels, will underpin the future energy system. Shell is at the forefront of this industry and its development as one of the world’s largest traders and suppliers of biofuels, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), Machteld de Haan said.
The Netherlands remains a key location for Shell, where its businesses span the breadth of its energy system – from upstream production of oil and gas through to its network of retail sites.
In recent years, Shell has invested €6.5 billion across a wide range of energy transition projects in the Netherlands.
This includes enabling carbon dioxide (CO2) storage through the Porthos CCS project, developing renewable hydrogen at Holland Hydrogen 1, and installing new furnaces and electrification of key manufacturing processes at Shell Chemicals Park Moerdijk.
