Green Revolution is a boost for container shipping companies

Product tankers operating in Europe could see a welcome surge in demand due to the "green" revolution underway on the continent. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Gibson writes: "There is no doubt that the green revolution is underway and that Europe is arguably its epicenter. The European energy sector has faced headwinds for more than a decade as overseas refineries often have an advantage Be it through more sophisticated refineries, cheaper raw material costs, or in many cases both. Covid-19 was just one other factor that continued to dwindle the importance of the European refinery and ultimately led to another round of capacity closings. But now the European ones are seeing Energy companies are increasingly given an opportunity to realign their business models in order to take advantage of the growing environmental pressure on their companies and gain access to government subsidies, with the European Union aiming to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 55% by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2050. While the Strategi In order to achieve climate neutrality, most energy companies are investing in biofuels as part of their strategies to achieve their climate goals ". According to Gibson, “Total plans to convert its Grandpuits landlocked refinery into a 400,000 ton / year biofuel plant producing renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable naphtha to serve local markets. In Italy, ENI is considering expanding biofuel production with possible extensions to existing plants as well as a possible retrofitting of the refinery in Livorno by 2024. ENI has set itself the goal of producing up to 5 million tons / year of biofuel by 2050, which requires further investments and expansions Total and ENI's plans are likely to result in up to 177,000 b / d of crude oil imports being replaced by a much smaller volume of organic raw materials. The shipbroker added that Saras is also considering more than doubling the production of hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) in Italy at its Sardinia facility to 250,000-300,000 tons / year. To do this, the company has to source more raw materials such as palm and vegetable oils. In Spain, Repsol plans to build a biofuel plant by 2023 that can produce 250,000 tons / year of biofuel. The facility will use recycled materials as raw material. In Germany, Shell is investing in the Rhineland refinery to use green electricity to produce synthetic jet fuel and naphtha. As with most green investments, the scale will start small with production as low as 100,000 tons / year by 2025. In Finland, Neste plans to stop refining at the Naantali facility (58,000 tonnes per day) and to increase the production of SAF at all refinery facilities worldwide. The company has also selected Rotterdam as the location for a biofuel refinery and plans to produce 500,000 tons of SAF there by the end of 2023. "