The three companies will establish a joint venture in Malaysia to construct and operate the biorefinery.

The construction of the biorefinery, targeted to be operational in the second half of 2028, is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of this year, and upon completion, will have the capability to process about 650,000 t/y of raw materials to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO), and bio-naphtha, the companies said.

The wastes and residue feedstocks for the biorefinery will comprise used vegetable oils, animal fats, waste from the processing of vegetable oils, and other biomass including microalgae oils.

Petronas’ vice president, Refining, Trading and Marketing, Ahmad Adly Alias said: “Together with our partners Enilive and Euglena, we will leverage each other’s strengths and expertise to advance the global bio-based economy and deliver affordable, accessible cleaner energy solutions to customers worldwide, particularly for Asia Pacific. We believe the project will contribute towards Malaysia’s National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) and see us progress towards Petronas’ Net Zero Carbon Emissions 2050 aspiration.”

Enilive’s CEO, Stefano Ballista, commented: “Since 2014, we have been running biorefineries in Italy and more recently in the United States of America as well. With this new initiative and in cooperation with Petronas and Euglena, we will enter into the Asian market and have a distinctive global footprint.”

Euglena’s founder and president, Mitsuru Izumo, said: "We built the first small-scale biofuel production facility in Japan with the aim to support Japan’s advancement in biofuels. This project in Malaysia will enable us to pave the way to achieve carbon neutral society and aspiration in Japan. […] Euglena will expedite our microalgae research and development activities and supply algae oil to global market."