Leading renewable fuels producer, Neste, has announced that it has signed an agreement with Shell to increase the supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

What that actually means:

Shell may not be the world's leading producer of renewable fuel, but they are very good at getting that fuel to customers. This agreement means that Shell will begin to market Neste's renewable fuels to airlines so that they can reach net-zero emissions targets. We've seen Neste sell directly to airlines themselves as well.

Some context:

Neste produces SAF from 100% renewable sources and blends it with traditional aviation fuel. Biofuels are currently the only viable method of reducing emissions associated with aviation (Teslas can't fly). We actually saw Neste sign almost an identical agreement with BP just a few weeks ago.

Read the press release here.

French international oil major, Total, has announced that it has acquired a specialty lubricants company for an undisclosed amount.

Who are they buying?

The company, Lubrilog, has been producing specialty lubricants for about 30 years. They produce very niche products for applications that require extremely high-quality lubricants (aka when conventional lubricants can't reduce enough friction). This is seen commonly in the automotive, cement, chemical, and metalworking industries for use in heavy machinery.

So why did Total buy them?

Lubrilog has actually worked with Total in the past (hype video here). According to Total, the acquisition will strengthen its "position in the industrial lubricants market bringing a high level of expertise for critical applications in some key sectors". This means Total will now be able to offer customers more options if conventional lubricants aren't meeting the bar.

Read the press release here.

US-based integrated petroleum company, Exxon, has announced the renewal of its partnership with carbon capture start-up Global Thermostat.

Useful background information:

Exxon first signed an agreement with Global Thermostat just a little over a year ago. The purpose of the agreement was to evaluate the potential scalability of the start-up's carbon capture technology (video explanation here). In the last year, they have jointly developed the project and evaluated economic uses for captured carbon dioxide.

So what now?

After a year of evaluation, Exxon is pleased to announce that the technology "has shown promising signs in the development of direct air capture technologies that could be brought to scale". If progress continues you could eventually see a pilot project from the two companies. Some companies are already past the pilot phase and are planning the construction of full-scale facilities (like this one we talked about a month ago).

Read the press release here.