£800 million Fawley FAST project powers forward

Like many major investments around the world, Fawley’s FAST project was put on hold during the Covid pandemic. Now though the momentum has returned, major components are arriving on site and first production is expected in 2024.

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First announced in 2019, the FAST project will increase low-sulphur diesel production at Fawley by 40 percent, and should help the UK reduce its reliance on diesel imports by a quarter while helping to meet continuing strong demand from crucial sectors including heavy transport, emergency response, agriculture and industry.

The project’s new hydrogen plant builds on over 50 years of experience with hydrogen production onsite and could enable the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as the energy transition evolves.

“This is a major investment by ExxonMobil that will see domestically produced fuel reduce Britain’s reliance on imports and the emissions associated with its transport from around the world.” said Nick Bone, Fawley site manager.

“We are not only powering the country’s needs today, we are building the foundations that could help to lower emissions from hard to decarbonise sectors such as air travel and marine transport in the future.

“It is our proven ability to deliver technology at scale that, as a founding member of The Solent Cluster, will see Fawley play a key role in the country’s ambitions for net zero.”

The current investment will support more than 400 construction roles and over a hundred suppliers, and help secure existing skilled jobs at Fawley.

It is anticipated that we will reach full production capacity in 2025.

Sir Julian Lewis MP, New Forest East added: “This exciting new development offers immediate economic advantages, and anticipates future technologies to protect the environment. It is a major step on a very important industrial journey.”

See Investing in Fawley for more details.