Montana Renewables begins SAF deliveries to Shell

Shell will now be distributing SAF purchased from Montana Renewables to airlines such as Delta, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines. (Photo: Shell)

Montana Renewables hosted key aviation stakeholders and Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte at its Great Falls biorefinery to celebrate the first production and initial shipments of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) under a multiyear agreement with Shell Trading (US) Co.

The start of production makes Montana Renewables the largest SAF producer in North America.

“Montana Renewables is a great example of what’s possible when there aren’t sideboards placed on innovation,” Gianforte said. “The result is a healthier environment, a stronger economy and more jobs. We’ll continue to champion pro-jobs, pro-business policies to support cutting-edge, job-creating businesses like Calumet.”

Bruce Fleming, CEO of Montana Renewables, said, “We’re proud to collaborate with Shell to improve aviation sustainability. Strong support from the state of Montana, Cascade County, and the city of Great Falls made possible the unique speed of Montana Renewables, and Shell is the logical offtake partner for us to reach multiple airlines and airports from our geographically advantaged site. We are now producing more SAF than any other North American company on top of our renewable diesel and renewable hydrogen.”

Shell and its affiliates are expanding and building supply-chain capabilities to blend and distribute SAF throughout the U.S. to enable more customers with access to the fuel, helping to accelerate the pace of decarbonizing the aviation sector.

“We’re excited to be working with Montana Renewables to bring together the right mix of technical expertise and operational capabilities to help increase access to SAF production in the U.S. for our customers, including Delta, Alaska and JetBlue, to power progress in aviation,” said Christine Bassitt, general manager of Shell Aviation Americas.

In April, Delta announced an agreement to purchase 10 million gallons of neat SAF from Shell.

“This is a great example of the kind of action and investment needed in states across our country that we need to meet our aggressive SAF goals as an industry,” said Pam Fletcher, chief sustainability officer for Delta Air Lines. “There’s not enough SAF being produced today to power the world’s commercial airlines for a single day, so we’re grateful to everyone at the state of Montana, Montana Renewables and Shell for providing the incentives and taking meaningful steps toward scaling production of this largest-known lever we have for decarbonizing aviation.”

Montana Renewables is currently scaled to produce approximately 135 million gallons per year (mgy) of renewable diesel, 30 mgy of SAF and 15 mgy of renewable naphtha.