Neste Oil and Stora Enso to end their biodiesel project and continue cooperation on other bio products

Neste Oil Corporation
Press Release
17 August 2012 at 4.30 pm (EET)

Neste Oil and Stora Enso to end their biodiesel project and continue cooperation on other bio products

Neste Oil and Stora Enso have decided not to progress with their plans to build a biodiesel plant, for which the two companies had applied for funding under the EU's NER 300 program. The European Commission recently published a review on its Web site of projects that have applied for NER funding, and Neste Oil's and Stora Enso's project is not among those listed as scheduled to receive this funding.

"We have calculated the cost of the project very carefully and realistically. It would have represented a very significant investment and we concluded that we would not have gone ahead in any case, even if we had won public funding," according to Neste Oil's President & CEO, Matti Lievonen, and Stora Enso's CEO, Jouko Karvinen.

The trials carried out by Neste Oil and Stora Enso at a pilot plant in Varkaus between 2009 and 2011 on the entire chain needed for the planned plant - from wood biomass to biowax suitable for use as a raw material for producing renewable diesel - proved very successful.

"Technically speaking, our work was a great success and we are very satisfied with what we achieved. Cooperation between the two companies has also been very smooth and will continue in the future in the area of other bio-based products," add Lievonen and Karvinen.

Neste Oil Corporation

Hanna Maula
Director, Corporate Communications

Further information: Lars Peter Lindfors, Senior Vice President, Technology, tel. +358 50 458 3605

Neste Oil in brief
Neste Oil Corporation is a refining and marketing company concentrating on low-emission, high-quality traffic fuels. The company produces a comprehensive range of major petroleum products and is the world's leading supplier of renewable diesel. Neste Oil had net sales of EUR 15.4 billion in 2011 and employs around 5,000 people, and is listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.

Neste Oil is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the Ethibel Excellence Investment Register, and has featured in The Global 100 list of the world's most sustainable corporations for a number of years. Forest Footprint Disclosure (FFD) has ranked Neste Oil as one of the best performers in the oil & gas sector. Further information: www.nesteoil.com