Neste Oil celebrates the grand opening of Europe's largest renewable diesel refinery in Rotterdam

Neste Oil celebrates the grand opening of its renewable diesel refinery today in the Port of Rotterdam together with some 150 guests, including the Dutch Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation Mr. Maxime Verhagen, representative of the Finnish Government, and other political, governmental and business representatives.

The start-up of the Neste Oil's Rotterdam refinery took place in September 2011. The refinery produces premium-quality NExBTL renewable diesel, which is the cleanest and highest-quality renewable diesel on the market today outperforming traditional biodiesels and even the best fossil diesels. The refinery was completed on-schedule and on-budget and marks a major step forward in Neste Oil's cleaner traffic strategy. The refinery employs approximately 150 persons, the majority of which are Dutch.

"Through hard work and cooperation among nearly 15 partners we have built this Europe's largest and finest renewable diesel refinery in just two years. As a location, the Port of Rotterdam has fulfilled all our expectations. It is centrally located in terms of our product and feedstock flows as well as within close proximity to our key markets and customers in Europe. Also the other chemicals plants in the area offering numerous synergy opportunities. Talent pool in Rotterdam is absolutely first class. The government of the Netherlands as well as Dutch authorities played an important role in supporting Neste Oil's investment in a renewable fuels plant which has been one of the biggest investments in the Netherlands over the recent years," says Matti Lievonen, President & CEO of Neste Oil.

"This refinery represents a huge investment in our economy and provides a boost to sustainable growth. It will help the Netherlands realise its ambitions as a leader of the bio-based economy and a major biomass hub in Europe," says Maxime Verhagen, Dutch Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation.

ISCC-certified refinery helps meet growing energy needs with low emission renewable fuel

Neste Oil's refinery in Rotterdam has an annual production capacity of 800,000 metric tons or 1 billion liters of renewable diesel and cost around EUR 670 million to build. The annual volume produced in Rotterdam will be enough for more than half a million cars to run continuously on pure NExBTL. The emission benefits of the refinery's output will be equivalent of removing more than a quarter of a million cars from the roads. This means reducing greenhouse gases by a total of over 1.5 million tons annually. Like Neste Oil's three other NExBTL plants, the refinery in Rotterdam is ISCC-certified and capable of producing also renewable aviation fuel in the future.

The facility is capable of using Neste Oil's wide feedstock base consisting of a variety of vegetable oils, by-products of vegetable oil refining (e.g. stearin), as well as waste oils and fats which all meet the stringent sustainability criteria included in the EU Renewable Energy Directive.

The Rotterdam refinery is also capable of utilizing future feedstocks like algae oil. As a corporate partner in a five-year AlgaePARC project launched in June 2011 and coordinated by Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands, Neste Oil is involved in developing technologies and processes for growing microalgae on an industrial scale as a raw material for use in fuel, food, and chemical production. Just last week Neste Oil also announced that it will build a pilot plant to produce waste-based microbial oil at its Porvoo refinery. It will be the first pilot plant in Europe designed to produce microbial oil for use in manufacturing renewable fuel from waste-based raw materials.

Neste Oil has a similar-sized facility in Singapore that was completed towards the end of 2010. Furthermore, the company operates two renewable diesel plants at the Porvoo refinery in Finland that came on stream in 2007 and 2009 with a combined capacity of 380,000 metric tons per year. With the start-up of the Rotterdam refinery, the production capacity of Neste Oil's renewable diesel refineries totals approximately 2 million metric tons annually which strengthens the company's position as the world's leading renewable diesel producer, and helps meet the world's growing energy needs with low-emission renewable fuel. The main target markets for NExBTL are in Europe and North America.

NExBTL renewable diesel in brief

Based on Neste Oil's proprietary technology, premium-quality NExBTL renewable diesel is the most advanced diesel fuel on the market today. It easily outperforms both conventional biodiesel and fossil diesel, and can be produced from a flexible mix of vegetable oils and waste animal fats. Neste Oil's procurement chain ensures that all the raw materials it uses for NExBTL are produced sustainably. NExBTL renewable diesel has been shown to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 50% over the product's entire life cycle when compared to fossil diesel. Its lower tailpipe emissions also make a valuable contribution to enhancing overall air quality.

Unlike conventional biodiesels, hydrotreated vegetable oils, such as NExBTL renewable diesel, meet even the most stringent requirements set by automotive manufacturers. The fuel offers excellent performance at low temperatures and can be used even in aviation. NExBTL diesel is suitable for all modern diesel engines without any modification either as such or blended with fossil diesel. It is also fully compatible with existing distribution and logistical systems and requires no additional investments in this area.