Global oil giant Shell has said it expects to take a US$600M hit in the third quarter after halting its biofuels project in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Reuters wrote.
Total impairments and provisions related to the venture now totalled US$1.4bn, the company was quoted as saying in the 7 October report.
Given the go-ahead by Shell in September 2021, construction of the 820,000 tonnes/year biofuels plant was paused last year and cancelled completely in early September as it would not have been competitive, Reuters wrote.
According to a 4 September report by The Guardian, about half of the biofuels from the Rotterdam plant was expected to be used for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced from used cooking oil (UCO) and animal fat.
The company’s decision to exit the project is the latest in a series of steps by fossil fuel producers retreating from earlier pledges to expand cleaner energy, according to the Reuters report.
In February, global energy giant bp announced it would sharply reduce its investment in renewables, while Norwegian energy company Equinor said it was scaling back its renewable energy ambitions.
