Finnish Neste plans to completely stop oil refining

Building on its capability of proactive transformation, Neste launches a strategic study on transitioning its refinery in Porvoo, Finland, to non-crude oil refining and into a globally leading renewable and circular solutions site, Report informs, citing the company.

Through co-processing and retrofitting of units, and benefiting from available refining assets, experience and know-how, Neste targets to significantly grow its renewables and circular production in Porvoo long term. The transformation under study would start with the co-processing of both renewable and circular feedstock and could continue with retrofits of existing units at a later stage, with a long-term capacity potential of 2 to 4 million tonnes per year. The targeted transformation would lead to a discontinuation of crude oil refining in Porvoo in the mid-2030s. Neste will also continue to actively study opportunities of green hydrogen at its Porvoo refinery. These developments would significantly contribute to the realization of Neste’s climate commitments, and make Neste a global frontrunner in the transformation of the fossil fuel industry.

“Neste’s growth strategy is centered on renewable and circular solutions. We continue to set our ambition level high, launching this study on the long-term transformation path for our Porvoo refinery and targeting to ultimately replace crude oil with alternative feedstocks. The Porvoo site provides a flexible and large-scale base that can grow into a major site for our renewables and circular business,” says Matti Lehmus, President and CEO of Neste.

Transformation of such scale would create the need for significant investments over the coming decade. Separate investment decisions would be taken as the planning proceeds. As the time span of the plan is more than a decade, it would be built on modularity and flexibility and could be adjusted to reflect variations in the pace of change in both the renewable and circular businesses as well as in traditional refining. Independently of the planned transition, Neste will continue to provide access to fossil fuel products for its customers.

Neste currently has a global renewable production capacity of 3.3 million tons per year at several sites. It is expected that the production capacity of renewable products will be increased to 5.5 million tons by the end of 2023 and to 6.8 million tons by the end of 2026.

Neste is the world's leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuels, biofuels and bioplastics, refining and retailing fuel through its own filling station network in the Baltic States and Finland.