Neste Oyj (international name:Neste Corporation; former namesNeste Oil Corporation andFortum Oil and Gas Oy;Finnish pronunciation:[ˈneste]) is anoil refining and marketingcompany located inEspoo,Finland. It produces, refines and markets oil products, provides engineering services, and licenses production technologies. Neste has operations in 14 countries.[2]
Nesteshares are listed on theNasdaq Helsinki. As of 2022, the Prime Minister's Office of Finland is the largestshareholder in the company, owning 35.91% of shares.[3]
In 2021, Neste was the third largest company in Finland in terms ofrevenue.[4]
Neste was founded in 1948 as the State petrol company of Finland with the purpose to ensure the availability of refined fuels in Finland. The company's headquarters was established in Espoo.[5]
In 1955,Uolevi Raade became the company'sCEO.[5] In 1957, the first oil refinery in Finland was built atNaantali using US technology.[6][7][8] ThePorvoo refinery was built in 1965 in Sköldvik (Kilpilahti).[6] Originally, much of the oil refined was ofSoviet origin, thoughNorth Sea oil was used after the collapse of the USSR.[9]
In 1971, Neste acquired half ofKesko-owned Kesoil.[10][11]
Because of the operations of Neste, theoil crisis of 1973 had little effect in Finland.[9]
In 1976, Finland's firstskyscraper, Neste's 83.6-meter tall headquarters, was built inKeilaniemi, Espoo.[12]
In 1991, Neste became the majority owner of Finnoil. Kesoil also became a wholly ownedsubsidiary. In 1992, Union service stations became Neste service stations. The following year the same happened to Finnoil service stations.[14]
In 1994, Neste began as the mainsponsor of a competition previously known as theFinnish Rally and renamedNeste Rally Finland. In October 2020, Neste ended its 26-year title sponsorship.[16][17]
In 1998, Nestemerged with the power companyImatran Voima Oy to createFortum Oyj. After the merger the chemical operations of Neste were transferred to the newly established companyNeste Chemicals, which was sold to the investment firmIndustri Kapital for $535 million.[18] In 1998, Kesoil service stations also became Neste stations.[14]
An engineering joint venture, Neste Jacobs Oy, was established with theAmericanJacobs Engineering in 2004.[19] In May 2004, Fortum Oil and Gas Corporation was split into two: the company's oil business was renamed Fortum Oil Corporation and other operations renamed Fortum Heat and Gas Corporation.[6] Fortum Oil Corporation was a subsidiary of Fortum Corporation.[20]
In the spring of 2005, Fortum Oil Corporation wasdemerged from Fortum, becoming the Neste Oil Corporation.[20]
Neste Oil Corporation was listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange in June 2005.[20] Risto Rinne started as Ihamuotila's successor and CEO.[21]
A renewablediesel plant, using second generationbiofuels andNEXBTL technology and located at the Porvoo refinery, was brought on stream in 2007, together with a new conventional diesel production line.[22] In the same year, the entirebus fleet ofHelsinki Region Transport switched fully to diesel produced using NEXBTL technology. Experiments by Neste,VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Proventia showed that local emissions decreased significantly after the switch, with overall particle emissions decreasing by 30% andnitrogen oxide emissions by 10%, with excellent winter performance and no problems withcatalytic converters.[23][24] A second renewable diesel plant at Porvoo became operational in 2009.[25]
In 2007, Neste started a research program onalgae, but this was discontinued in 2015. In 2019, the research program restarted to investigate the production ofaviation fuel from algae andmunicipal solid waste.[26]
In 2008, Rinne retired, with Matti Lievonen succeeding him as CEO.[27]
In 2011, a plant similar in size to the Singapore plant was launched inRotterdam,Netherlands.[30] Its investment costs amounted to 670 million euros.[31]
In 2015 the company's name was changed from Neste Oil back to Neste to emphasize the company's focus on therenewable energy business.[36][37][38]
In 2017, Neste acquired Jacobs Engineering's 40% stake in Neste Jacobs and gained full control of the company. After the takeover, Neste Jacobs was renamed Neste Engineering Solutions Oy.[19]
When CEO Lievonen retired in November 2018, he was followed by theBelgian-German Peter Vanacker.[27]
[39] In June, Neste andLyondellBasell announced the commercial-scale production of bio-basedplastic from renewable materials.[40]
In March 2020, Neste invested in German Sunfire, a company developing high-temperatureelectrolysis technology.[43] In September, Neste sold its 49.99% stake inNynas to Bitumina Industries, and began closure-related negotiations for theNaantali refinery.[44][45] The refinery was planned to close by the end of March 2021.[46] As part of the cooperation, Neste produceshydrocarbons from renewable raw materials as a feedstock to manufacturephenol by Borealis. Phenol is used by Covestro to producepolycarbonate plastics, which would primarily be used for carheadlights and window coatings.[47][48]
In December 2021, CEO Vanacker resigned to become the CEO ofLyondellBasell.[49] Matti Lehmus became CEO in May 2022.[50]
Neste's operations are divided into marketing and services, oil products, renewable aviation, renewable polymers and chemicals, and renewable road transportation units, as well as managing an operating platform.[52]
In 2015, two renewable diesel production lines in Porvoo produced 0.525 million metric tonnes of renewable diesel, which was approximately one fifth of the diesel consumption of Finland.[54][55][56] Neste's production facility in Singapore is the largest renewable diesel refinery in the world, with an annual capacity of 1.1 million metric tonnes.[57] A planned new production line is expected to increase its capacity by one million tonnes in 2022.[57]
Neste's refinery feedstock includes ofcrude oil and renewable raw materials, such as usedcooking fat, wasteanimal andfish fat from thefood industry,[45] waste and residues fromvegetable oil production, technicalcorn oil, palm oil,rapeseed oil, andsoybean oil.[58] About 80% of renewable feedstock is waste and residue fats and oils.[59] Neste also researches the use of community waste, algae,lignocellulose,[45] and liquefied waste plastic as feedstock.[59] In 2019, most of the crude oil used by Neste came from Russia.[58]
Neste producesgasolines,diesel,aviation andmarine fuels, light and heavy fuel oils, base oils, gasoline components, special fuels and solvents.[60][61] LPGs,carbon dioxide, andsulfur are sold as by-products. Neste's products include dozens of types of gasoline and more than a hundred end-products.[62] In 2017, Neste was the world's largest producer of renewable diesel, producing 2.6 million tonnes per year.[63]
Neste has developed the proprietaryNEXBTL technology for the production ofrenewable fuels.[64] Renewable diesel is ahydrodeoxygenatedparaffinic fuel, which can be used in conventional diesel engines without engine modifications.[65]
Neste'ssustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a drop-in fuel, which can be mixed withkerosene to produce a mixture that contains at least 50% kerosene.[66] Among others, it is used byLufthansa and the SwedishAir BP.[66] In 2019, Neste produced about 100,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel[66] and plans to produce around 1.5 million tonnes per year by 2023.[67]
Neste owns a chain ofservice stations, which is the largest in Finland.[68] In 2020, Neste had station chains consisting of more than 800 traffic and automatic stations in Finland,Estonia,Latvia andLithuania.[69][70]
Neste was ranked Finland's most respected service station brand in a survey of Finnish brands carried out byTaloustutkimus andMarkkinointi & Mainonta in Summer 2013.[71]
In February 2014, Talouselämä magazine named Neste's NEXBTL renewable diesel as the most groundbreaking Finnish business innovation of the new millennium.[72]
Neste was ranked the second most sustainable company in the world on the 2018 Global 100 index ranking byCorporate Knights, a financial information company.[73][74]
Neste has been criticized for usingpalm oil and palm fatty acid distillate, a by‐product of physical refining of crude palm oil products, as a part of its feedstock for renewable products.[59][77] Critics include ofWWF,[77]Greenpeace,[78] Biofuelwatch[59] andMilieudefensie,[79] among others.
Neste consumes 1–2% of the world's totalpalm oil production.[59] In 2016, less than 20% of renewable raw materials used by Neste was crude palm oil.[80] Crude palm oil used by the company has been traceable to the oil palm plantation level since 2007, and has been 100% certified since 2013.[80] However, certification does not apply to palm fatty acid distillate.[59] Since 2016, Neste has published information about all its crude palm oil suppliers on its website.[80]
In 2018 Biofuelwatch stated in their annual report that Neste meetsEU sustainability standards for biofuels by sourcing palm oil from older plantations, commonly ones for whichrainforest was destroyed before 2008. However, it cannot guarantee that all of its crude palm oil is free of effects from more recent or ongoing deforestation.[81] Greenpeace has issued[82] similar concerns about Neste's palm oil usage after an investigation byMapHubs showed that Neste's supply chain for palm oil includesIndonesian palm mills creating the mostorangutan habitat loss.[83][84]
Neste has been a target of sustained attacks, including publicity campaigns.[85] In January 2011, Neste won thePublic Eye Awards.[86] Neste also attempted to shut down aparody website launched by Greenpeace;[87][88] however, theWorld Intellectual Property Organization rejected the trademark-based complaint, since the page is noncommercial, gives no economical benefit, is not misleading, and follows the guidelines offreedom of speech.[89]
In November 2022, it was announced Neste had acquired theused cooking oil (UCO) collection and aggregation business and related assets in the US from Crimson Renewable Energy Holdings, LLC. The transaction includes shares in SeQuential Environmental Services LLC, and Pure LLC, as well as a UCO processing plant inSalem, Oregon.[90]
^Greenpeace parodiasivu suututti Neste Oilin, Nesteen mielestä Nestespoil-sivu loukkaa sen tavaramerkkiä, Greenpeace taas pitää sivun sulkemisyrityksiä sensuurina HS 22 May 2012 B10
€15.148 billion(2021)
Media related toNeste at Wikimedia Commons
