Oct. 24,Italian energy group Eni said Thursday that U.S. fund KKR will buy a 25 percent stake in its biofuels unit Enilive for a deal consideration of 2.938 billion euros. KKR’s investment improves the capital structure of Eni Group and reduces its net financial position, while ensuring that Eni continues to consolidate and control Enilive.

The Brazilian mining company Vale and Petrobras announced Oct. 18 the signing of a strategic-alliance agreement to supply products with a focus on competitiveness and advancing the decarbonization agenda.

This agreement, which reflects the natural evolution of the protocol of intentions signed by the companies in September 2023, establishes conditions for testing and potentially marketing three strategic products: coprocessed diesel with renewable content, natural gas, and bunker fuel with 24 percent renewable content.

Pinnacle Marine, NTU MESD, Weichai Singapore and China Classification Society will conduct a 1000-hour continuous run of pure FAME biodiesel in a newly built harbour craft in Singapore.

Shipbuilder Pinnacle Marine (Singapore) recently signed a Research Collaboration Agreement with NTU Maritime Energy & Sustainable Development Centre of Excellence (MESD), Weichai Singapore Pte Ltd, and the China Classification Society Singapore. 

Pinnacle Marine said the agreement focuses on a 1000-hour continuous run of pure FAME (fatty acid methyl ester) biodiesel, known as B100, in a newly built 16-metre aluminium hulled harbour craft within Singapore Port Limits.

On 17 October, the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) secured a favourable judgement from the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which rejected the appeals of two Indonesian exporters against a previous judgement of the European General Court of December 2022, which rejected all requests to annul the countervailing duty imposed in November 2019 on biodiesel imports into Indonesia. The General Court’s 2022 judgement was fully upheld, ending four years of litigation.

Xavier Noyon, Secretary General of the European Biodiesel Agency (EBA), said: this ruling marks a new milestone in the EBA’s long and relentless fight against unfair biodiesel imports and the restoration of a level playing field in the European Union; it comes at an opportune time as the countervailing duty will soon expire unless the expiry review investigation concludes that it is necessary to extend the countervailing duty for a further five years.

In this case, the European Commission found that the export duties imposed by the Government of Indonesia were countervailing as defined in the basic countervailing regulation.

Currently, the Norwegian government is proposing to reduce the cost of biodiesel road use by 2025.

The change in cost levels in the 2024 budget results in higher road user fees for biodiesel than for regular diesel.

The government emphasises biofuels as an important climate measure and plans to increase the turnover requirement for road transport to 33% by 2030.

The U.S. exported 81,957.1 metric tons of biodiesel and biodiesel blends of B30 and greater in August, according to data released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service on Oct. 8. Biodiesel imports were at 80,543.6 metric tons for the month. 

The 81,957.1 metric tons of biodiesel exported in August was down when compared to the 88,432.8 metric tons exported in July, but up when compared to the 77,877.3 metric tons exported in August of last year. 

The U.S. exported biodiesel to approximately eight countries in August. Canada was the top destination for U.S. biodiesel exports at 74,825.4 metric tons, followed by Peru at 6,700.1 metric tons and Germany at 197.5 metric tons. 

The International Energy Agency (IEA) released its annual Renewable Energy Market Report on 9 October, which for the first time includes a section dedicated to renewable fuels, outlining the projected growth of liquid biofuels, including sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), biogas, and other forms of bioenergy, to 2030.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), despite accelerating demand growth, renewable energy is expected to account for less than 6 per cent of total energy demand by 2030. In order for renewable energy growth to be consistent with the IEA’s vision of achieving net-zero emissions from the energy sector by 2050, the adoption rate of renewable energy would need to double by 2030, the report notes. However, under current market conditions, the sector is only expected to grow by 20 per cent.

Bioenergy is expected to account for almost all of the growth in the renewable energy sector by 2030, with the most significant growth in bioenergy in industry, followed by transport and buildings. The IEA forecasts that road biofuels will continue to dominate by 2030, but notes that biofuel consumption for aviation and maritime uses is accelerating. The outlook predicts that biofuels for aviation will account for around 2 per cent of total aviation fuel supply by 2030, up from close to zero last year. This growth is expected to be supported by mandates from the EU, UK and US. In the maritime sector, EU legislation is expected to drive growth, with biofuels accounting for nearly 0.5 per cent of international shipping fuel demand by 2030.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed Oct. 8 the Fuel of the Future law, what the Brazilian government is calling “the largest decarbonization program in the transportation and mobility sector on the planet.

The initiative, created by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, drives the emergence of new green industries in Brazil.

The program will unlock investments totaling $260 billion Brazilian reals (USD$46.8 billion) in various areas and actions, which the government said will prevent the emission of 705 million tons of CO2 by 2037.

The U.S. exported 81,957.1 metric tons of biodiesel and biodiesel blends of B30 and greater in August, according to data released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service on Oct. 8. Biodiesel imports were at 80,543.6 metric tons for the month. 

The 81,957.1 metric tons of biodiesel exported in August was down when compared to the 88,432.8 metric tons exported in July, but up when compared to the 77,877.3 metric tons exported in August of last year. 

The U.S. exported biodiesel to approximately eight countries in August. Canada was the top destination for U.S. biodiesel exports at 74,825.4 metric tons, followed by Peru at 6,700.1 metric tons and Germany at 197.5 metric tons. 

The value of U.S. biodiesel exports fell to $110.81 million in August, down from both $130.19 million the previous month and $138.54 million in August 2023.

The European Commission has approved a €500 million aid scheme to support investments in new biofuel production capacities. The scheme was approved under Temporary crisis and transition framework (TCTF) for State aid measures, adopted by the Commission at March 9, 2023 and modified to November 20, 2023 and to May 2, 2024.

Under this scheme, which Romania intends to finance through EU Modernization Fund, the aid will be in the form of Direct grants. The move will support investments in new production capacities of advanced biofuels targeted, namely bioethanol, sustainable aviation fuel and hydrotreated vegetable oil. By supporting advanced biofuels, the measure will generate significant reductions in greenhouse gases while limiting the impact on agriculture compared to conventional biofuels produced from food crops.