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Neste Oil to build a second biodiesel plant at Porvoo


WEBWIRE

30 November 2006 - Neste Oil has decided to build a second plant to produce premium-quality biodiesel at its Porvoo refinery in Finland. The capital costs of the plant, scheduled to begin production towards the end of 2008, are estimated to be around EUR 100 million. The plant will have the same capacity, 170,000 t/a, as the first one at Porvoo due to start up in summer 2007.

“Biodiesel is a major growth area for us, alongside oil refining, and we are aiming to become the world’s leading biodiesel producer,” says President and CEO Risto Rinne. “Building a second plant at Porvoo will bring us one step further towards reaching our goal, but it will not be the only move that we’ll be making. We intend building a number of such plants in various markets, both alone and together with partners. When we talk about aiming to be the leader in the field, we’re not just talking about production volumes, but also about being the technology leader as well. We aim to secure this position by investing heavily in R&D on biofuels to develop technologies that will enable us to further extend the range of raw materials that we can use. Ensuring the sustainability of the raw materials is also a top priority for us.”

Neste Oil’s synthetic NExBTL biodiesel will be the world’s first second-generation biodiesel to be launched commercially; and is based on the company’s long-term development efforts in the field. In terms of quality, it clearly outperforms the existing vegetable oil and crude oil-based diesel products on the market. Numerous engine tests have shown that using NExBTL biodiesel cuts tailpipe emissions significantly.

“The market for premium-quality biodiesel looks very promising,” continues Kimmo Rahkamo, Executive Vice President of Neste Oil’s Components Division. “We decided to invest in our first NExBTL plant purely with the export market in mind, but now it appears that legislation requiring the use of biofuels on the road will also be introduced in Finland, and we need a second plant to meet domestic demand as well as growing demand elsewhere. We will benefit significantly from being able to build the second plant alongside the first one soon entering the final phases of the construction.”

Neste Oil has two projects under way related to starting biodiesel production elsewhere in cooperation with Total in France and OMV in Austria, and these are progressing as planned.

Neste Oil Corporation
Osmo Kammonen
Senior Vice President, Communications

Neste Oil Corporation is a refining and marketing company specializing in 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 4,600 people. Neste Oil is listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. For further information, see www.nesteoil.com.

NExBTL (Next Generation Biomass to Liquid) is a new bio-based, premium-quality diesel fuel developed by Neste Oil that offers excellent performance, fully meeting automotive manufacturers’ requirements with very low levels of tailpipe emissions. Virtually all known vegetable oil and animal fat can be used as raw materials for the highly flexible proprietary NExBTL process. The first NExBTL production plant is currently under construction at Neste Oil’s Porvoo refinery. With a rated capacity of 170,000 t/a, the facility is scheduled to come on stream in summer 2007.



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