South-east Asia set to export surplus biofuels to Europe, Petronas executive says

South-east Asia is positioned to export biofuels to other markets such as Europe as production capacity exceeds demand in the region, a senior executive with Malaysian state oil and gas company Petronas said on Wednesday (Sep 10).

Annual sustainable aviation fuel capacity in Asia is projected to reach four million metric tonnes by 2030, Ahmad Adly Alias, vice-president, refining, marketing and trading told the Appec conference in Singapore.

“This surplus positions Asean as a viable net exporter to markets like Europe,” he said.

Asia’s strengths lies in its access to feedstocks, increasing production capacity and accelerating demand, Ahmad Adly said.

He added that Asia Pacific’s biofuel transport demand is expected to surge to about 250 million litres per year by 2030, marking the fastest growth globally and underscoring the scale of opportunities in the region.

Petronas is building a biorefinery to produce 650,000 tonnes per year of biofuels in a joint venture with Enilive, which is a unit of Italy’s Eni, and Japanese company Euglena.

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The project, located in Pengerang, Johor, aims to start producing by the second half of 2028. REUTERS