Shell Nederland Raffinaderij, a subsidiary of Shell, has decided not to restart construction of its planned biofuels facility at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park in Rotterdam, which began in 2022.

The decision was taken after considering commercial and technical issues, and the conclusion was that the project would not be competitive.

Machteld de Haan, Shell’s downstream, renewables and energy solutions president, said: “As we evaluated market dynamics and the cost of completion, it became clear that the project would be insufficiently competitive to meet our customers’ need for affordable, low carbon products. This was a difficult decision, but the right one, as we prioritise our capital towards those projects that deliver both the needs of our customers and value for our shareholders.”

Despite the setback, Shell remains committed to biofuels and is one of the world’s leading traders and suppliers of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) with 20 per cent of the total sales in North America and Europe.

Shell is also partnering with Accenture and American Express GBT to develop the open blockchain-enabled Avelia platform to support the supply and demand for SAF.

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