Shell to book $1bn impairment charge from Rotterdam biofuel pause

Shell announced that it will book an impairment charge of as much as $1.0bn on account of pausing the construction of Rotterdam biofuel plant as well as an additional $0.8bn from divestment of its chemical plant in Singapore, the company announced in its second quarter update note.

“Non-cash post tax impairments of $1.5-$2bn are expected, and mainly include the Singapore Chemicals & Products assets ($0.6-$0.8bn) as well as Rotterdam HEFA ($0.6-$1.0bn), which is reported in the marketing segment,” the company said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Shell announced that it is pausing work on the development of Rotterdam biofuel plant in Netherlands owing to weak market conditions. The site was planned to have a production capacity of 820,000 tonnes a year to produce SAF/HVO using waste feedstocks.

“Temporarily pausing on-site construction now will allow us to assess the most commercial way forward for the project,” said Huibert Vigeveno, renewable and energy solutions director. Shell.

“We are committed to our target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, with low-carbon fuels as a key part of Shell’s strategy to help us and our customers profitably decarbonise. And we will continue to use shareholder capital in a measured and disciplined way, delivering more value with less emissions.”

To note, according to Shell’s 2023 annual filing the company had revised the capex requirement for the conversion of Rotterdam site to $2.1bn from $0.58bn in 2022 driven by business acquisition and construction.