Eni halts its purchases of palm oil to make HVO

Italian integrated Eni said today it has stopped buying palm oil to make hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO).

Eni said its final shipments "arrived in the last few weeks," and said that waste feedstock is now responsible for more than 85pc of throughput at its Gela and Venice HVO plants. The company puts combined capacity of these at between 1mn-1.1mn t/yr, although it is yet to run either at full tilt.

Its first half throughput was 235,000t, which Eni said equated to 47pc capacity, crimped by unplanned downtime at the 650,000 t/yr Gela.

Eni says it will partially substitute palm oil with its own planted oilseed crops including castor, croton and cotton oil, largely from Africa. It first shipments will arrive next month from Kenya, although these will be small at first. Eni expects 2,500t this year, and 20,000t in 2023.

Eni also wants to collect UCO and other waste feedstock in Kenya, anticipating 5,000t delivered in 2023.

The company has discussed a variety of plans around HVO and feedstock in Africa although it is unclear how advanced these are. In a long running consultation Eni plans to open another HVO unit at the port of Livorno.

Customs data show Italian palm oil imports of 790,000t in the January-August period, down by 12pc on the year and the lowest for the period in the past six years. The biggest supplier was Indonesia with 330,000t, then Malaysia with 230,000t. Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala shipped 45,000-75,000t each. These are likely to fall further as Eni winds down its imports.

While Italian palm oil imports have fallen, deliveries of palm and vegetable fatty acid distillates (Pfad) increased to a new high of 395,000t in the January-August period, up by 19pc year on year. Pfad can be run as feedstock in biodiesel and HVO units. The single largest customer for Pfad in Italy is Musim Mas, which runs a 250,000 t/yr biodiesel plant at Livorno specially adapted to run on Pfad.

Italian Pfad imports were 68,000t in August, of which 48,000t was from Indonesia and 16,000t from Malaysia.

Imports of palm oil mill effluent (Pome) are sporadic, but increasing. They amounted to 14,500t in January-August, the highest for the period and already an annual record beating the 13,700t in 2020.

Eni will announce its third quarter results on 28 October, when it will update on its HVO production.

By Adam Porter

Italian, palm oil, Pfad, Pome imports '000t