Lufthansa and OMV sign significant MoU for supply of 800,000 liters of SAF

The Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Österreichische Mineralölverwaltung Aktiengesellschaft (OMV), the global chemicals and energy group, for the supply of in excess of 800,000 liters of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) over a seven-year period between 2023 and 2030.

The already existing partnership between the two companies will now be further enhanced through the addition of new locations for the production and off-take of SAF as well as the addition of new technologies.

As of March 2022, OMV has been supplying SAF to Lufthansa’s Austrian Airlines at Vienna International Airport. Currently Lufthansa is the largest user of SAF in Europe and the company sees SAF as critical to the carbon-neutral future of the aviation industry as a whole.

SAF is aviation fuel that is produced without the use of fossil energy sources, such as crude oil or natural gas. Various production processes exist, and different feedstock are available as energy sources. The current generation of SAF, which saves 80% CO2 compared to conventional kerosene, is mainly produced from biogenic residues, for example from used cooking oils. To meet the Green Deal climate goals, the European Commission’s current plan includes the use of at least 63% SAF out of the aviation fuel demand by 2050 for EU air transport. Sustainable fuels will play a major role in decarbonizing this sector.

OMV is an Austrian multinational integrated oil, gas and petrochemical company which has a subsidiary, OMV Petrom S.A. in Romania. The subsidiary announced in June this year that it would begin to produce SAF at its Petrobrazi refinery by co-processing locally produced rapeseed oil. OMV Petrom has been certified as an HVO producer based on the CERTROM audit, and the company aims to increase the production capacities in the future, in order to produce advanced sustainable fuels based on various waste feedstocks (e.g., used cooking oil).