OREANDA-NEWS. October 23, 2014. Neste Oil and SHV Energy have agreed that SHV Energy will market and sell biopropane to be produced at Neste Oil's Rotterdam refinery.

The agreement to supply some 160,000 tons of biopropane over a four-year period is the first of its kind anywhere in the world. SHV Energy plans to sell the biopropane in several European markets and has initiated discussions with customers in France, Germany, Benelux, Scandinavia and the UK. Replacing existing fossil fuels with biopropane will result in significant carbon savings.

"Biopropane is a wonderful addition to our product portfolio, and our customers can benefit from it," says Fulco van Lede, Management Board Member of SHV Energy. "LPG already provides our customers with a cleaner rural energy choice to the high-carbon fuel alternatives many are dependent on in off-grid areas. Biopropane means this option will become even cleaner.  In use, it is identical to conventional propane and can be blended and used by all existing appliances suitable for use with propane. In addition, biopropane is a great opportunity for SHV Energy to lead the LPG business towards a more sustainable future".

"SHV Energy is an ideal partner to market and distribute our biopropane," according to Kaisa Hietala, Neste Oil's Executive Vice President, Renewable Products. "This agreement ensures that it will find customers who can most benefit from what it has to offer and its unique environmental properties."

Neste Oil's Rotterdam refinery primarily produces premium-quality renewable diesel from various bio-based inputs and waste. A EUR 60 million investment to produce and store biopropane in Rotterdam was announced in early September this year. The new unit will purify and separate biopropane from the sidestream gases produced by the refinery. Technology, engineering and project management company Neste Jacobs will design and implement the biopropane production process. Neste Oil expects the new unit to be producing biopropane at the end of 2016.