Neste

1948–1997 (Neste)

Neste was founded in 1948 as the state petrol company of Finland with the purpose to ensure the availability of refined fuels in Finland. The company's headquarters was established in Espoo.

In 1955, Uolevi Raade became the company's CEO. In 1957, the first oil refinery in Finland was built at Naantali using US technology. The Porvoo refinery was built in 1965 in Sköldvik (Kilpilahti). Originally, much of the oil refined was of Soviet origin, though North Sea oil was used after the collapse of the USSR.

In 1971, Neste acquired half of Kesko-owned Kesoil. Because of the operations of Neste, the oil crisis of 1973 had little effect in Finland. In 1976, Finland's first skyscraper, Neste's 83.6-meter tall headquarters, was built in Keilaniemi, Espoo. In 1980, Jaakko Ihamuotila became the CEO.

When Finland became the Soviet Union's largest Western oil importer in 1983, executive vice president Kai Hietarinta explained by stating that "the Soviets are reliable suppliers", in light of the 1970s energy crisis. From 1980 to 1982, Soviet supply increased from 58 to 81 percent of Finnish oil imports. Hietarinta noted that importing oil was Finland's only means to reduce its trade surplus. Trade obligations to the Soviet Union originated with the terms of its Independence from Russia in 1917, and the Second World War reparations from the 1944 Moscow Armistice that ended the Second Soviet–Finnish War.

Neste started its service station operations in 1983. Neste held a legal import monopoly until the market liberalization in the 1990s. In 1991, Neste became the majority owner of Finnoil. Kesoil also became a wholly owned subsidiary. In 1992, Union service stations became Neste service stations. The following year the same happened to Finnoil service stations. In 1994, Gasum was established with Gazprom as a minor (25%) shareholder. In 1994, Neste's polyolefin production was separated into Borealis, a joint venture with the Norwegian Statoil. In 1998, Neste's 50% stake in Borealis was sold to OMV and IPIC. In 1994, Neste began as the main sponsor of a competition previously known as the Finnish Rally and renamed Neste Rally Finland. In October 2020, Neste ended its 26-year title sponsorship. In November 1995, the company was listed on the main list of the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

1998–2005 (Neste as part of Fortum)

In 1998, Neste merged with the power company Imatran Voima Oy to create Fortum Oyj. After the merger the chemical operations of Neste were transferred to the newly established company Neste Chemicals, which was sold to the investment firm Industri Kapital for $535 million. In 1998, Kesoil service stations also became Neste stations.

An engineering joint venture, Neste Jacobs Oy, was established with the American Jacobs Engineering in 2004. In May 2004, Fortum Oil and Gas Corporation was split into two: the company's oil business was renamed Fortum Oil Corporation and other operations renamed Fortum Heat and Gas Corporation. Fortum Oil Corporation was a subsidiary of Fortum Corporation.

2005–2014 (Neste Oil)

In the spring of 2005, Fortum Oil Corporation was demerged from Fortum, becoming the Neste Oil Corporation. Neste Oil Corporation was listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange in June 2005. Risto Rinne started as Ihamuotila's successor and CEO.

Neste's operations are divided into marketing and services, oil products, renewable aviation, renewable polymers and chemicals, and renewable road transportation units, as well as managing an operating platform.

Refining

In 2022, Neste operated conventional oil refineries at Porvoo in Finland and renewable diesel refineries in Porvoo, Singapore and Rotterdam, Netherlands.

In 2015, two renewable diesel production lines in Porvoo produced 0.525 million metric tonnes of renewable diesel, which was approximately one fifth of the diesel consumption of Finland. Neste's production facility in Singapore is the largest renewable diesel refinery in the world, with an annual capacity of 1.1 million metric tonnes. A planned new production line is expected to increase its capacity by one million tonnes in 2022.

Neste's refinery feedstock includes of crude oil and renewable raw materials, such as used cooking fat, waste animal and fish fat from the food industry, waste and residues from vegetable oil production, technical corn oil, palm oil, rapeseed oil, and soybean oil. About 80% of renewable feedstock is waste and residue fats and oils. Neste also researches the use of community waste, algae, lignocellulose, and liquefied waste plastic as feedstock. In 2019, most of the crude oil used by Neste came from Russia.