Japan’s Eneos Holdings is to focus on liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) under a new three-pronged strategy.
Its business portfolio now divides into base and materials businesses, low-carbon, and decarbonisation.
LNG will see an “active injection of resources” in the coming years, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) will be prioritised for industry and power generation and a major SAF project will see an in-house manufacturing system at the Wakayama plant operating from 2028.
The holding company is “considering hydrogen production, transportation, and supply to industrial transport operators in Japan for the establishment of a hydrogen supply chain.”
Research projects for CCS value chains will continue to be supported at offshore Western Kyushu and Northern Offshore Malay peninsula.
Operating profit for fiscal year 2024 was JY106.1bn, which was higher than previously announced forecasts.
Cosmo Oil Co and partners signed a SAF agreement in March which will see Suita City provide approximately 27,000 litres of used cooking oil per year as feedstock.
Global consultancy McKinsey forecasts Asia’s SAF market could account for 30% to 40% of global biogenic SAF demand by 2050, equivalent to between 25 and 30 million tonnes a year.
“Businesses can participate in the Asian SAF opportunity in two main ways: supply and scale,” it adds.
“They can consolidate and supply 2G feedstock [non-food biomass sources] for domestic, regional, and global production. Alternatively, they could invest to establish or scale up production, or pivot from first-generation (1G) feedstock [made from plants with a high content of sugars, fats, and starch] production to 2G feedstock.”
Yesterday, the EU and Japan announced they are to collaborate on semiconductor research under a renewed digital drive.
