Fujairah to provide 150m litres of ‘green’ aviation fuel 

Alamy via Reuters

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The expansion of a biofuel facility in the UAE will provide nearly 10 percent of the world’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), the project’s operators have claimed.

Mercantile and Maritime Group, an energy and logistics company specialising in the physical trading of oil and gas, announced on Tuesday that its facility in Fujairah will be expanded by more than 1 million sq ft and is set for completion by 2026.

Once operational, it said the Fujairah site will produce up to 150 million litres of SAF annually, representing nearly 10 percent of current global SAF production.

SAF can reduce the CO2 emissions of flying by as much as 80 percent, compared with traditional jet fuel.

Mercantile and Maritime CEO Murtaza Lakhani said: “Fujairah’s strategic location [makes] it an ideal home for our biofuel facility at Mena Terminals, the largest of its kind in the Middle East, and our investment in this facility reflects our commitment to environmental responsibility.”

Sam Turton, Mercantile and Maritime’s investment director, told AGBI that, given the limited amount of local feedstock for the plant, the company will supplement it with imports from countries including Pakistan, Southeast Asia and potentially East Africa.

“The facility is designed to process a diverse range of previously utilised oils, including palm oil and maize oil, as well as animal fats and tallow, ensuring flexibility and adaptability to available resources,” he said.

According to Global Market Insights, the global SAF market was worth $952.6 million in 2023 and is estimated to register compound annual growth of more than 45 percent between 2024 and 2032.

In the UAE, biofuels including SAF play a role in the country’s wider net-zero strategy, and the country aims to make 1 percent of fuel supplied at airports locally produced SAF by 2031.

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The UAE’s Guideline on Sustainable Aviation Fuel says it hopes to produce 700 million litres annually by 2030, according to Ahmed Al Kaabi, assistant under-secretary for the electricity, water and future energy sector at the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure. It will also form the basis of a national regulatory framework for SAF.

The global aviation sector accounts for about 3 percent of the global carbon footprint, but is aiming to be climate-neutral by 2050. The industry estimates it will take between $1.45 trillion and $3.2 trillion for SAF capital development to achieve its net-zero emissions goal.

“SAF produced at the new refinery will primarily target domestic consumption, specifically catering to UAE-based airlines,” Tourton said, but added that the fuel will be used on routes around the world.

The UAE is ready to produce “green” aviation fuel, but uncertainty around the regulations has delayed the take-off of the industry, Maryam Ali Al Balooshi, environment manager at the General Civil Aviation Authority, told a conference in Abu Dhabi in September.

“We are trying to expedite the certification process before 2026,” Al Balooshi said. “We need to unify it globally to allow airlines to use our SAF and be rewarded for that.”