Exxon Mobil Unit Joins Growing List of Refiners Making Biofuels

(Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Imperial Oil Ltd. will produce renewable diesel at a new facility in Canada, the latest in a string of refiners announcing plans to make lower-emissions biofuels. 

The project is expected to produce about 20,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel when it starts in 2024, which could reduce emissions in the Canadian transportation sector by about 3 million metric tons per year, Exxon said in a statement Wednesday. 

Imperial joins major crude-oil refiners such as Phillips 66 and Valero Energy Corp. in boosting output of biofuels as increasing alarm over the impact of global warming spurs companies and governments to step up efforts to curb greenhouse gases. A United Nations report this month warned of more catastrophic weather shifts without immediate action to rein in carbon emissions.

“Canada’s proposed low-carbon fuel policies incentivize the development of lower-emission fuels that can make meaningful contributions to the hard-to-decarbonize sectors of the economy, including transportation,” Ian Carr, president of ExxonMobil Fuels & Lubricants Co., said in the statement. 

The new complex at the Strathcona refinery near Edmonton, Alberta, will use locally grown plant-based feedstock and hydrogen with carbon capture and storage as part of the manufacturing process. Prices for soybean oil, often used to make renewable fuels, are up more than 40% this year as more fossil-fuel refiners announce plans to enter the market. 

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