Neste Oil and OMV plan a joint biodiesel production facility

Neste Oil Corporation
Press Release
27 March 2006 at 2:00 p.m. EET

Neste Oil Corporation and Austrian oil and gas group, OMV, are in negotiations aimed at jointly building a large-scale plant to produce next-generation biodiesel fuel. According to a memorandum of understanding, the 200,000 t/a facility will be located at OMV's Schwechat oil refinery in Austria, with production beginning at the end of 2008 at the earliest.

The plant will be based on Neste Oil's proprietary NExBTL technology, which is capable of producing high-quality diesel fuel from a variety of renewable raw materials, such as vegetable oil and animal fat. NExBTL biodiesel offers superior fuel properties, and outperforms conventional biodiesel and diesel grades currently on the market, according to recent tests by leading heavy-duty engine manufacturers.

NExBTL technology produces synthetic biofuels as defined by EU Directive 2003/30/EC, covering the development of biofuels in the European Union. The EU encourages member states to increase biofuel usage to 5.75% of all gasoline and diesel fuel used in traffic by 2010. Neste Oil's and OMV's joint production plant will be tailored to meet the needs of this challenge.

Neste Oil Corporation
Osmo Kammonen
Senior Vice President, Communications

Further information:
Kimmo Rahkamo, Executive Vice President, tel. +358 50 458 4247
Jyrki Ignatius, Vice President, tel. +358 50 458 7034

Neste Oil Corporation is an independent Northern European oil refining and marketing company, with a focus on advanced fuels for cleaner traffic. Neste Oil's refineries are located in Porvoo and Naantali in Finland, and have a total refining capacity of approx. 250,000 bbl/d. The company employs around 4,500 people. Neste Oil is listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange (symbol: NES1V). For further information, see www.nesteoil.com.

NExBTL (Next Generation Biomass to Liquid) is a new renewables-based, high-quality diesel fuel developed by Neste Oil to meet future biofuel requirements. NExBTL offers excellent fuel properties that meet the highest requirements of the automotive industry, as well as very low exhaust emission levels. NExBTL can be produced very flexibly from virtually any vegetable oil or animal fat. The first NExBTL plant, a 170,000 t/a unit at Neste Oil’s Porvoo refinery, is due to come on stream in summer 2007.