SINGAPORE, Sept 20 — Malaysia has a huge potential to supply feedstock to companies involved in producing Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong.

Wee said Malaysia can move towards supplying the raw material to be developed into SAF because of the vast feedstock available in the country that can be used for the purpose, including used cooking oil and animal fats.

“We can see a huge potential due to readily available animal fats, cooking oil which is being used vastly on commercial scale everywhere in Malaysia. The main cost will be transportation. If can be done in Malaysia it will be beneficial to the country because raw material is available here,” he said after visiting the Neste Singapore Renewable Diesel Refinery in Tuas, Singapore, here today.

Also present during the visit were Neste’s Singapore Expansion Project director Petri Jokinen, High Commissioner of Malaysia to Singapore Datuk Dr Azhar Mohamad Mustafar and Firefly chief executive officer Philip See.

He said the current market price of SAF was about three times more expensive than conventional fossil jet fuel which makes it yet to be economically feasible for implementation by aircraft operators.

He added that Malaysia was pushing to include palm oil for use in SAF through the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Eligible Fuel Criteria for international aviation.

Wee said every step taken by Malaysia in relation to aviation matters was inline with the objective of ICAO to stregthen the agenda to reduce the emission of carbon and the use of SAF.

“As a council member of the ICAO, we are not exceptional but bound to the convention that can take place anytime from now to 2030 and every country has its own policy and target set by every country is clear.

“We want to achieve by 2050 but the threshold needs to be established because we are looking at many methods, how you want to make it more attractive (SAF).

“... from here the potential is huge, and very soon, every airline will try to contact SAF to get the supply in order to meet the standard set by every country, so the market is huge and that’s why I said you have to go for the long-term solution for Malaysia,” he said.

However, Wee said according to a study by CORSIA, palm oil has yet to be recognised as a feasible raw material for producing SAF.

“It must be noted as well that Malaysia has several varieties of feedstocks and biomass that may be considered for SAF Drop-in fuel. Since SAF would be the main contributor to CO2 (carbon dioxide) reduction by 2050 (as much as 65 per cent according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA)) for international flights, it is appropriate that more concentration be given to this initiative,” he said.

Wee said Malaysia through the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) under its newly formed National Aviation Industry Coordinating Organisation (NAICO), has established a Task Force looking at making the SAF initiative, in line with the 12th Malaysia Plan 2021-2025.

Meanwhile, Firefly and Neste Singapore in a joint statement said Firefly today operated its first international passenger flight using SAF on the ATR 72- 500 aircraft from Seletar Airport to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Malaysia following the success of its first domestic passenger flight flown to Penang from Subang recently. — Bernama