Air bp and Neste to offer increased volume of sustainable aviation ‎fuel in Europe

Air bp, the international aviation fuel products and services supplier and Neste, the world’s ‎largest producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), have signed an ‎agreement to offer an increased volume of sustainable aviation fuel to airport customers in ‎‎2020 and 2021. The volume is five times larger than that supplied by the businesses in ‎‎2019. Air bp will make the Neste-produced SAF available at selected airports in Europe, ‎with deliveries to airports including Stockholm (ARN) and Oslo (OSL) expected to begin in ‎the coming weeks.‎

The increased supply of SAF comes in response to rising demand from existing and new ‎airline customers, as well as from Norway, where there is a mandate requiring 0.5% of all jet ‎fuel sold to be SAF. ‎

Neste’s SAF is produced from 100% renewable waste and residue raw materials. In its neat ‎form and over the lifecycle, it can reduce up to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions compared ‎to conventional jet fuel. SAF undergoes the same quality tests as regular fossil jet fuel and ‎can be blended at up to 50% to fuel aircraft. Currently, SAF offers the only viable drop-in ‎alternative to fossil liquid fuels for powering commercial aircraft.‎

“bp’s ambition is to be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner and to help the world get to ‎net zero. Air bp aims to support our customers and the wider aviation industry on their path ‎to meet their low carbon goals. We believe sustainable aviation fuel will play an important ‎role as the industry recovers from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through our ‎successful ongoing collaboration with Neste, we are pleased to be able to offer our ‎customers a substantially increased volume of SAF as they work towards reducing their ‎emissions”, says Martin Thomsen, Air bp’s chief executive officer.‎

“The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic implications have not changed our ambition. ‎We remain fully committed to combating climate change by providing tangible, immediately ‎available solutions for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of flying in cooperation with ‎our partners. The use of sustainable aviation fuel will play a significant role in the industry’s ‎ongoing efforts in making air transportation fit for the climate and environmental challenges ‎it is facing. We are looking forward to continuing our close collaboration with Air bp and ‎jointly contributing to a more sustainable aviation”, says Thorsten Lange, Executive Vice ‎President, Renewable Aviation at Neste.‎

Neste’s sustainable aviation fuel annual capacity is currently 100,000 tons. With their ‎Singapore refinery expansion on the way, and with possible additional investment into their ‎Rotterdam refinery, Neste will have the capacity to produce some 1.5 million tons of SAF ‎annually by 2023.‎

Air bp has supplied SAF since 2010 and, to date, has supplied more than 20 customers and ‎‎16 airports globally, including Norway’s Oslo Airport where it was the first to supply SAF ‎produced by Neste through the existing airport fueling infrastructure, in collaboration with ‎other industry stakeholders.‎

‎In 2018, Air bp and Neste announced plans to explore and develop supply chain solutions ‎for delivering SAF to airports and airlines. As a next step in their collaboration, in April ‎‎2019 they jointly developed a viable supply chain solution for sustainable aviation fuel to the ‎Swedish market. This latest step in their cooperation will help to increase the availability of ‎SAF at various airports through making best use of Air bp’s and Neste’s expertise in the ‎fields of production, blending, supply and safe operations.‎

Source: Air bp, press release, 2020-08-19.