New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Will biofuels production change gear soon?
28/1/2026
8 min read
Feature
In February 2025 Shell launched a commercial-scale synthetic fuels plant in Hamburg, Germany. This was a first for the energy giant, producing synthetic diesel and jet fuel from green hydrogen. Furthermore, major European aviation and transportation companies are collaborating in a project to produce over 100,000 t/y of e-fuels in the next year or so. Promising though these projects are, they are just a drop in the vast bucket of fossil fuels used in sea, air and land transport. Current synthetic fuel production is underwhelming, with volumes running at less than 1% of global fossil fuel production. Selwyn Parker reports.
Independent research confirms that only small volumes of synthetic or e-fuels are being produced currently.
It’s difficult to ignore the declared hostility of the Trump administration to green fuels as a factor, but there is also the issue of cost in a challenging economic climate. For example, in late 2025 ExxonMobil abruptly slashed its budget for lower-emission technologies, including carbon capture, by $10bn to concentrate on its core oil and gas business. And under recently departed Chief Executive Murray Auchinloss, in 2025 BP knocked £5bn off its budget for green investments, arguing that ‘our optimism for a fast [energy] transition was misplaced, and we went too far, too fast’.
The oil and gas industry has floated synfuel projects that are supposed to produce at least 80mn t/y by 2030. However, impartial sources point out that, as of 2025, less than 20% of these projects are actually being built while the other 80% haven’t even been signed off.