Page 14 - EurOil Week 04 2021

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

Repsol produces first biojet fuel

at Tarragona refinery

SPAIN SPANISH oil group Repsol has produced its first Swedish biofuels
batch of aviation biofuel at its 186,000 barrel per Meanwhile, Swedish operator Preem
The batch is enough to day (bpd) Tarragona refining and petrochemi- announced on January 21 that it has ramped
fuel 145 flightsbetween cals complex on the Mediterranean coast. up renewable diesel production capacity at
Barcelona and Los Repsol is one of a number of European refin- Sweden’s 100,000 bpd Gothenburg refinery by
Angeles. ers switching to biofuels as an alternative to 40% after redeveloping a green hydrotreater
winding down refining operations, faced with (GHT) plant.
weak fuel demand as a result of the coronavirus The unit can produce 100% renewable fuels
(COVID-19) pandemic and growing opposition by processing raw materials such as raw tall
to oil and gas use. oil diesel, residues from the food industry and
Produced from biomass, the Tarragona recycled frying oil, Prem said. The renewable
plant’s first 10,000-tonne batch of biojet fuel is diesel will be sold under the HVO100 stand-
enough to meet the needs of 145 flights between ard and used as a component in other diesel
Barcelona and Los Angeles, Repsol said. Its use products.
will reduce CO2 emissions by 630 tonnes. “The redevelopment means that Preem has
Repsol produced a first batch of biojet fuel increased its domestic production of biofuels
at its 220,000 bpd refinery in Puertollano in and, at the same time, we contribute to the ongo-
August. The company also revealed plans to ing shift from fossil fuels to renewable,” Preem
build an advanced biofuels unit at its 100,000 CEO Magnus Heimburg said.
bpd Cartagena refinery in October at a cost of Preem axed plans last September for a
€188mn ($222mn). That facility is on track to $1.65bn residue oil conversion complex at its
start up in the first half of 2023 and produce 220,000 bpd Lysekil refinery in Sweden, saying
250,000 tonnes per year (tpy) from recycled raw it would shift production at the site towards
materials for use in aircrafts, trucks and cars. renewables. It aims to produce 5mn cubic metres
Repsol is targeting a total of 2mn tpy of bio- per year of renewable fuels by 2030, scaling back
fuel supply by 2030 under its newly unveiled CO2 emissions by 12.5mn tonnes.
strategy. Earlier this month Italy’s Eni said it was
Many European refiners have announced weighing up whether to convert its 84,000 bpd
similar plans to re-gear their facilities towards Livorno refinery in north-west Italy to biofuels.
biofuel production. These moves are a reaction France’s Total in September decided to convert
to the slump in fuel demand caused by the pan- its 93,000 bpd Grandpuits oil refinery near Paris
demic, which has added to structural problems to a biofuel and bioplastics plant, while Finland’s
with overcapacity that have plagued Europe’s Neste is transforming its Porvoo refinery for the
refining sector for years. Decommissioning co-processing of renewable and circular raw
refineries is costly, whereas their conversion materials. OMV’s Schwechat refinery in Austria
to biofuels means operators gain from EU and is due to convert up to 160,000 tpy of liquid bio-
national support for clean energy initiatives. mass into carbon-neutral fuels. ™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 28•January•2021