Neste takes Rotterdam refinery offline following fire

Neste Corp. is investigating the cause of a fire that has resulted in the temporary suspension of processing and production activities at the operator’s 1.4-million tonne/year (tpy) renewable fuels refinery on the Port of Rotterdam in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

The Nov. 8 fire was quickly extinguished and did not lead to any injuries, but the incident forced the shutdown of operations at the refinery, which—based on initial assessments—will remain offline for several weeks, Neste said.

The operator said it is actively working to mitigate impacts to the refinery customers but advised deliveries of renewable diesel volumes from the site would be affected during the shutdown period.

With the incident now under investigation, Neste said repair works would begin as soon as possible.

While Neste did not disclose details regarding specific impacts to Rotterdam’s processing installations, the company did confirm the fire had no effect on the ongoing €1.9-billion expansion project, which—due for completion in first-half 2026—aims to increase the refinery’s renewable product capacity by 1.3 million tpy to 2.7 million tpy, including 1.2 million tpy of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production (OGJ Online, May 14, 2024).

The early November unplanned shutdown at Rotterdam, however, has resulted in a slight decrease in Neste’s 2024 guidance on its anticipated system-wide renewable product total sales volume, which the operator revised downward to about 3.7 million tpy (± 5%) from a previous guidance of 3.9 million tpy (± 5%).

The revised guidance reflects the shortfall in renewable diesel production from Rotterdam, as the operator’s earlier 2024 guidance on SAF volumes remains unchanged at 335,000-480,000 tpy.

Neste currently produces renewable fuels at manufacturing sites in Porvoo, Finland, Rotterdam, Singapore, and the US.

In its interim report for January-September 2024 released in late October, Neste said it expected both an expansion of its Singapore renewables refinery as well as its 50-50 Martinez Renewables LLC joint venture with Marathon Petroleum Corp. at the latter’s repurposed, former conventional refinery in Martinez, Calif., to respectively reach their full-production capacities by yearend (OGJ Online, Feb. 6, 2023).