NESTE OIL'S BIODIESEL PROJECT IN FRANCE DISCONTINUED

Neste Oil and Total have decided to discontinue their project to build a plant to produce diesel fuel from renewable raw materials at a Total refinery in France. Feasibility studies on the project, which was announced in summer 2005, have shown that building the plant at Dunkirk would have proved too expensive. Neste Oil's other biodiesel projects continue as planned.

 

Neste Oil has a similar plant in the final stage of construction at its Porvoo refinery in Finland and due to come on stream in the first half of this year. Recently the company decided to build a second identical plant at the same site due to be commissioned towards the end of 2008. The two plants at Porvoo will have a combined output of some 340,000 t/a and are projected to cost a total of approximately EUR 200 million. In addition, Neste Oil is working on plans with OMV to build a biodiesel plant based on NExBTL technology at a site near Vienna, Austria.

 

Neste Oil's biodiesel plants are based on the company's proprietary NExBTL technology, which enables premium-quality diesel fuel to be produced from a wide range of vegetable oil and animal fat.

 

"Rapidly growing diesel production capacity based on renewables is an important priority for us, and we have committed ourselves to investing substantially in the field. Our technology is clearly ahead of what is currently available, as it provides refiners with the widest range of possible raw material inputs and results in the highest-quality output. Given the accelerated public discussion around climate change, and the potential biofuels offer for helping here, I believe that we will move ahead on a number of NExBTL projects over the next few years," says Risto Rinne, Neste Oil's President & CEO.

Neste Oil Corporation
Osmo Kammonen
Senior Vice President, Communications

 

For further information, please contact:

Kimmo Rahkamo, EVP, Biodiesel, on +358 (0)10 458 4247
Petri Pentti, CFO, on +358 (0)10 458 4490

 

 

Neste Oil Corporation is a refining and marketing company focused on advanced, clean traffic fuels, with a strategy that prioritizes growing its refining and premium-quality biodiesel businesses. 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 4,700 people. Neste Oil is listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. For further information, see www.nesteoil.com.