Main events during the reporting period
On February 28, Neste Oil announced that Neste Oil and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) had entered into a partnership in the VHVI (Very High Viscosity Index) base oil area, which was expected to bring 600,000 metric tons per annum of NEXBASE® base oil onto the market at the end of 2013.
On July 15, Neste Oil announced that it had started pioneering cooperation with Lufthansa in the area of aviation biofuels. Lufthansa began regularly scheduled return flights between Hamburg and Frankfurt using Neste Oil's NExBTL renewable aviation fuel four times a day. One of the engines of the aircraft used a blend of 50% NExBTL renewable aviation fuel and 50% fossil fuel; while the other ran on regular fossil-based jet fuel.
On August 1, Neste Oil announced that it had sold its majority-owned (93.85%) Estonian subsidiary, AS Reola Gaas, to the Estonian-based Alexela Group. AS Reola Gaas sells bottled, bulk, and automotive gas to industrial and other customers.
On September 16, Neste Oil announced that it had signed an agreement to sell its polyalphaolefin (PAO) production plant in Belgium to Chevron Phillips Chemical. Under the agreement, Chevron Phillips Chemical agreed to acquire Neste Oil's (PAO) production facility, quality control laboratory, and the related maintenance services in Beringen,Belgium. The sale was approved by the competition authorities and closed in December.
On September 20, Neste Oil announced that it had successfully started up Europe's largest renewable diesel refinery in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The Rotterdam plant has a capacity of 800,000 t/a, and it increased Neste Oil's total renewable diesel capacity to 2 million t/a. The plant employs approximately 150 people.
On September 21, Neste Oil arranged a Capital Markets Day in Rotterdam and confirmed its financial targets and updated its short-term outlook.
On October 12, Neste Oil announced that Neste Oil, The Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), and nogaholding had successfully started commercial production at a new base oil plant in Bahrain. The joint venture plant produces premium quality VHVI (Very High Viscosity Index) Group III base oils for use in blending top-tier lubricants and has a production capacity of 400,000 metric t/a. Neste Oil has a 45% stake in the joint venture and the company's share of the investment cost was EUR 130 million.
On December 8, Neste Oil announced that it would sell its 50% holding in an iso-octane plant in Edmonton,Canada to Canada's Keyera Corp. The sale would consist of all of Neste Oil’s assets and the associated product and feedstock inventories at closing. The iso-octane plant sale was closed after the reporting period in January 2012.
On December, 15 Neste Oil announced that it would build a pilot plant to produce waste-based microbial oil at its Porvoo refinery, the first pilot plant in Europe designed to produce microbial oil for use in manufacturing renewable fuel from waste-based raw materials. The facility is due to be completed in the second half of 2012 and represents an investment of approx. EUR 8 million.