SAF Industry at a Glance
Europe | March 2026
The key SAF market developments in March 2026 include:
Crude oil and petroleum product pricing has seen an unprecedented increase due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Reduced tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has caused crude oil supply concerns, resulting in a global shift in petroleum product export destinations, particularly those exported from Europe.
Jet spot pricing saw unprecedented increases for the month of March leading to record-setting crack spreads versus Brent.
The European Commission confirmed its ReFuelEU mandate will still impose penalties on suppliers that fail to meet their eSAF supply obligations once they are in place in 2030.
Airlines for Europe (A4E) indicated they would be calling for at least a delay in the planned EU rules on the share of eSAF due to the lack of projects reaching FID.
The European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) published 2025 reference prices in March. These reported an average 2025 conventional SAF price of €1,925/mt ($2,235/mt) based on real index pricing—this came at a premium average of €1,285/mt ($1,492/mt) to fossil jet.
The International Airlines Group (IAG) reported that SAF accounted for 3.3% of its total fuel volumes in 2025, well in excess of the 2.0% required under the UK SAF Mandate and ReFuelEU.
Finnish producer Neste announced in February that it would be expanding its relationship with World Fuel Services to supply SAF to over 100 airports across the UK and Europe. Neste has claimed that it will have 2.2mt/year in SAF capacity globally by 2027, up from 1.5mt/year in 2025.
SAF developer SkyNRG announced in February that it had achieved financial close on its HEFA SAF facility DSL-01 at Delfzijl Chemical Park in the Northern Netherlands. The site will produce 100,000mt of SAF per year alongside 35,000mt of byproducts, including bionaphtha.
Eni announced it had taken final investment decisions (FID) on two biorefining projects at its Sannazzaro (Pavia) and Priolo (Sicily) refineries in Italy via subsidiary Enilive. Both projects are planned to be completed by the end of 2028.
Nordic aviation company Norwegian announced that it was launching the first commercial aviation route in Europe that will use a 40% SAF blend (contrasting to the standard blends of below 30% utilised by most European operators). SAF will be supplied by St1 Nordic and will be used for the Aalborg and Copenhagen route.
Licensor Honeywell announced that it would be providing its eFiningTM methanol to jet technology to Verso Energy for production of eSAF at seven planned facilities across Finland, France, and the US.
Carbon Neutral Fuels (CNF) announced the development of Project Starling, an eSAF via Fischer-Tropsch facility in Workington, UK. The facility will utilise the Johnson Matthey and BP FT CANS technology alongside Honeywell UOP’s FT oil Unicracking process to produce 25,000mt/year of eSAF targeted for 2031.
In late January the UK Department for Transport (DFT) announced $181k of funding via the UK SAF Clearing House to four domestic companies to help develop advanced SAF projects.
Axens announced that it has entered an agreement with Airbus to work together on the development of SAF projects and collaborate on SAF advocacy.