BP's aviation fuel supply unit has signed an agreement with Neste, the largest sustainable aviation fuel producer, to provide its airline customers at airports with five times more SAF in 2020 and 2021 than in 2019, BP said on its website Aug. 20.
The increased SAF offering will be made available at selected European airports, the company said, including Stockholm Arlanda and Oslo, where deliveries are expected to begin in the coming weeks.
"The increased supply of SAF comes in response to rising demand from existing and new airline customers, as well as from Norway, where there is a mandate requiring 0.5% of all jet fuel sold to be SAF," BP said.
"Neste's sustainable aviation fuel annual capacity is currently 100,000 mt. With their Singapore refinery expansion on the way, and with possible additional investment into their Rotterdam refinery, Neste will have the capacity to produce some 1.5 million mt of SAF annually by 2023," it added.
The company also said that the new fuel can be blended with traditional fossil jet fuel up to 50%.
SAF is produced from 100% sustainable waste and residue raw materials.
The aviation sector has said it is committed to reducing CO2 emissions by 50% by 2050 through the use of SAF and other measures, including the Carbon Offsetting Scheme for International Aviation, or CORSIA, set to launch at the beginning of 2021.
At present, sustainable aviation fuel is used by a number of airlines in North America, as well as Airbus in France, KLM in the Netherlands, Lufthansa and Airbus in Germany, and SAS, Lufthansa, KLM and others in Scandinavian countries such as Sweden and Norway.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Price Launched
On Aug. 17, S&P Global Platts launched a Northwest Europe ex-refinery price for SAF, which was assessed at $1,547.12/mt on Aug. 19, compared to a FOB FARAG barge price for the conventional jet fuel of $351.25/mt.
The new SAF valuation is based on used cooking oil for the feedstock and includes other inputs such as hydrogen, while there are byproduct credits for propane, naphtha and diesel.
Prices for renewable fuels are typically much higher than for their conventional counterparts due to the cost of sourcing a renewable feedstock, aggregating supply and transporting it, as well as building the hydroprocessing facilities needed to produce it.
French oil company Total recently spent Eur275 million retrofitting its La Mede refinery in southern France to produce hydrogenated fuels from wastes and residues, while Italian major Eni has spent Eur294 million so far on transforming its Gela refinery.
Airlines to give passengers option to pay to use SAF
Lufthansa is to give passengers the option to pay extra for the German airline to use SAF to offset the carbon impact of their travel, according to media reports.
"We calculate your fuel consumption with transparent calculations for all of your flights and bring the respective amount of SAF into airline operations, we calculate the extra charge you would need to pay to upgrade from fossil jet fuel to SAF for your flight," Lufthansa said.
Lufthansa provided an example of a calculation of the extra cost for a domestic flight. "For a flight from Hamburg to Frankfurt you consume approximately 63 kg CO2 per person, depending on booking class and aircraft type. You can compensate this amount either by using approximately 31 liters of SAF. When using SAF, you only pay the difference between the regular kerosene price and the SAF price, which is currently approximately Eur1/liter."
Passengers flying SAS can pay $10 for 20-minute blocks of green jet fuel.