Page 11 - EurOil Week 15 2021

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

US threatens Belarusian petchem

firms with sanctions

BELARUS THE US will sanction nine petrochemical com- with the opposition under auspices of the
panies from Belarus next month unless Presi- Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Washington is calling dent Alexander Lukashenko releases political Europe (OSCE).
for the release of prisoners and starts talks with his opponents, Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya
political prisoners jailed the State Department said last week. has also called for mediated talks between the
since mass protests “Regrettably, we find the human rights situa- opposition, under the auspices of the Coordinat-
began last summer. tion has deteriorated to arguably the worst point ing Council, and the Belarusian elite. However,
in Belarus’s independent history,” spokesman she recently said that the opposition was giving
Ned Price said during a press briefing as cited up on trying to talk to Lukashenko directly, as he
by Bloomberg. “only wants to stay in power.”
State-owned petrochemical giant Belneft- Lukashenko has been in power since 1994
ekhim, the Naftan refinery and seven other and secured his sixth term after winning by a
companies may lose protection under a general landslide, according to the official results. Unof-
licence from the Treasury Department that was ficial results suggest that Tikhanovskaya won
issued in 2015 after Lukashenko released a pre- by a landslide, however. The US and European
vious batch of political prisoners. Union haven’t recognised the results of the
Since the crackdown started following the election.
disputed August 9, over 10,000 people have been Sanctions against Belarus’ petrochemical
arrested and of these over 300 have been jailed, industry will be especially painful, as Belarus
and are deemed to be political prisoners. earns much of its foreign exchange revenue from
The US State Department held out an olive processing Russian crude oil at its two modern
branch saying that the sanctions are “revers- refineries, completed in the dying days of the
ible” if Lukashenko releases his jailed oppo- Soviet Union, and through exporting the fin-
nents, stops violence and starts negotiations ished products to Europe and beyond. ™
ENERGY TRANSITION

Neste offsets emissions

with jet biofuel

FINLAND FINNISH biofuels producer Neste has deliv- Finnair added that the 300,000 tonnes of bio-
ered 300,000 tonnes of sustainable jet biofuel fuel supplied from Neste would lower its green-
Neste has organised to Finnair at Helsinki airport, to offset the car- house (GHG) emissions by 900 tonnes of CO2
the supply of 500,000 bon emissions generated when the company’s equivalent. The airline is striving to halve its net
tonnes of biofuel in total employees travel by air for business. CO2 emissions by the end of 2025 and become
in Europe and North Neste has organised the supply of 500,000 carbon neutral by 2045.
America. tonnes of the biofuel in total in Europe and Neste said separately it had expanded a pro-
North America, delivering it to the airlines most ject in California with terminal operator NuStar
commonly used by its employees. Using this to increase distribution of its jet biofuel. Trucks
volume results in a cut of up to 1,500 tonnes of at the NuStar-operated Selby Terminal near San
CO2 equivalent when the lifecycles of the fuels Francisco will now be able to load the fuel sup-
are considered, Neste said. plied by Neste. The strategic location of the Selby
This is equivalent to the emissions gener- terminal means Neste and its partners Avfuel
ated from business air travel by its employees, and Signature Flight Support can supply the fuel
although the company warned that emissions to a growing number of airports across the US
from this source would increase in 2021 because west.
of the easing of coronavirus (COVID-19) “We must act now to reduce emissions from
restrictions. air travel in order to preserve the many bene-
Neste said it intended to make this process fits flying brings our lives and the economy,”
available for other businesses, public institutions Neste’s vice-president for renewable aviation in
and other organisations that have committed to North America, Chris Cooper, said in a state-
addressing their emissions. ment. ™

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