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Released September 16, 2025 | GALWAY, IRELAND
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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Oil and gas major Shell plc (London, England) continues its withdrawal from low-carbon energy projects with the cancellation of a biofuels plant project in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The company claimed that the plant, located at its Pernis refinery at the Port of Rotterdam--now called Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam--would not be "sufficiently competitive." It hit the pause button on construction of the project in July last year to assess market conditions. With a planned capacity of 820,000 tons per year of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from waste, it would have been one of the largest European SAF-manufacturing operations. The company also canned a major SAF project at Bukom Island in Singapore in March 2023. The Rotterdam project had originally been slated to begin production in 2022, but this was later pushed out to 2025.
"As we evaluated market dynamics and the cost of completion, it became clear that the project would not be sufficiently competitive to meet our customers' need for affordable, low-carbon products," said Machteld de Haan, Shell's president of downstream, renewables and energy solutions. "This was a difficult decision, but the right one, as we focus our capital on projects that deliver both value for shareholders and solutions for our customers. We remain committed to advancing low-carbon molecules, including biofuels, which will be essential to the future energy system." Industrial Info reported on Shell's construction pause last year, when it claimed it wanted to "assess the most commercial way forward for the project." For additional information, see January, 2025, article - Citing Market Woes, Shell Pauses Work on Rotterdam Biofuels.
While announcing the cancellation, Shell also reaffirmed its low-carbon commitment by stating that between 2023 and 2024 it had invested approximately US$8 billion globally in low-carbon options, including solar and wind, carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen and biofuels. Last year, it said that it traded more than 10 billion liters of low-carbon fuels, "selling ten times more than it produced itself," on its way to becoming one of the world's largest suppliers of SAF. Industrial Info is tracking 14 SAF projects in the Netherlands worth more than US$6 billion in investment. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the reports. The largest of these projects is at Neste's renewable products refinery in Rotterdam. Already home to a 1.4 million-tonne-per-annum (MTPA) renewable diesel operation, this year saw the commissioning of a SAF plant capable of producing up to 500,000 tons of SAF per year. This boosted the company's global production capability to 1.5 million tons (around 1.875 billion liters) per annum. The company aims to boost its Rotterdam SAF operation to 1.3 MTPA, boosting the capacity of the site to 2.7 MTPA and making the refinery the world's largest facility producing renewable diesel and SAF.
At the start of 2025, Shell outlined plans to slash spending on low-carbon projects including biofuels, renewables, hydrogen and carbon capture by US$2billion to US$3 billion per year, a reduction of almost a third. At the same time it said it will refocus the investment on gas-fired power stations, large scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) and digital technologies. It expected that the share of renewables would drop from 50% of the low carbon portfolio to 20% by 2030.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
The company claimed that the plant, located at its Pernis refinery at the Port of Rotterdam--now called Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam--would not be "sufficiently competitive." It hit the pause button on construction of the project in July last year to assess market conditions. With a planned capacity of 820,000 tons per year of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from waste, it would have been one of the largest European SAF-manufacturing operations. The company also canned a major SAF project at Bukom Island in Singapore in March 2023. The Rotterdam project had originally been slated to begin production in 2022, but this was later pushed out to 2025.
"As we evaluated market dynamics and the cost of completion, it became clear that the project would not be sufficiently competitive to meet our customers' need for affordable, low-carbon products," said Machteld de Haan, Shell's president of downstream, renewables and energy solutions. "This was a difficult decision, but the right one, as we focus our capital on projects that deliver both value for shareholders and solutions for our customers. We remain committed to advancing low-carbon molecules, including biofuels, which will be essential to the future energy system." Industrial Info reported on Shell's construction pause last year, when it claimed it wanted to "assess the most commercial way forward for the project." For additional information, see January, 2025, article - Citing Market Woes, Shell Pauses Work on Rotterdam Biofuels.
While announcing the cancellation, Shell also reaffirmed its low-carbon commitment by stating that between 2023 and 2024 it had invested approximately US$8 billion globally in low-carbon options, including solar and wind, carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen and biofuels. Last year, it said that it traded more than 10 billion liters of low-carbon fuels, "selling ten times more than it produced itself," on its way to becoming one of the world's largest suppliers of SAF. Industrial Info is tracking 14 SAF projects in the Netherlands worth more than US$6 billion in investment. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the reports. The largest of these projects is at Neste's renewable products refinery in Rotterdam. Already home to a 1.4 million-tonne-per-annum (MTPA) renewable diesel operation, this year saw the commissioning of a SAF plant capable of producing up to 500,000 tons of SAF per year. This boosted the company's global production capability to 1.5 million tons (around 1.875 billion liters) per annum. The company aims to boost its Rotterdam SAF operation to 1.3 MTPA, boosting the capacity of the site to 2.7 MTPA and making the refinery the world's largest facility producing renewable diesel and SAF.
At the start of 2025, Shell outlined plans to slash spending on low-carbon projects including biofuels, renewables, hydrogen and carbon capture by US$2billion to US$3 billion per year, a reduction of almost a third. At the same time it said it will refocus the investment on gas-fired power stations, large scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) and digital technologies. It expected that the share of renewables would drop from 50% of the low carbon portfolio to 20% by 2030.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
