ExxonMobil affiliate to produce renewable diesel to help reduce transport emissions in Canada

ExxonMobil has announced that its majority-owned affiliate, Imperial Oil, is moving forward with plans to produce renewable diesel at a new complex at its Strathcona refinery in Edmonton, Canada. When construction is complete, the refinery is expected to produce approximately 20,000 b/d of renewable diesel, which could reduce emissions in the Canadian transport sector by about 3mn t/y.

The renewable diesel production process will utilise blue hydrogen, which is produced from natural gas with carbon capture and storage (CCS). Approximately 500,000 t/y of CO₂ are expected to be captured by using CCS, reports ExxonMobil. Renewable diesel production is anticipated to start in 2024. 

The Strathcona renewable diesel project is part of ExxonMobil’s plans to provide more than 40,000 b/d of low emissions fuels by 2025. In the US, the company has agreed to purchase up to 5mn b/y of renewable diesel from Global Clean Energy to supply markets in California. Chemically similar to petroleum-based diesel, renewable diesel can be readily blended for use in engines on the market today.

In March 2021, ExxonMobil established a Low Carbon Solutions business to commercialise low emission technologies, including CCS, biofuels and hydrogen. In June, Imperial announced its participation as a founding member of the Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero Alliance, whose goal is to work collectively with the broader oil and gas industry and the federal and Alberta governments to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands operations by 2050.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that CCS could mitigate up to 15% of global emissions by 2040, while the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates global decarbonisation efforts could be twice as costly without CCS.