Phillips 66 to Supply SAF to British Airways in Calif

US refiner Phillips 66 has signed a deal to supply sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to British Airways for flights departing California, with 5mn USG already delivered in recent months.

The unblended SAF has arrived since December from Phillips 66's 52,000 b/d renewable fuels refinery in Rodeo, California, and is for the airline's use at Los Angeles International Airport, the refiner told Argus. Phillips 66 said it is delivering SAF to the airline monthly, although future volumes, pricing and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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The supply agreement follows a Phillips 66 deal announced in December to supply United Airlines with SAF at airports in California and Illinois. The Rodeo site has increased SAF production since its conversion to primarily renewable diesel early last year.

It is notable that British Airways is receiving SAF in the US, which has various policies that encourage production of the lower-carbon fuel but does not require consumption as in the EU and UK. US-produced SAF is eligible for a clean fuel tax credit starting this year that offers larger subsidies to fuels as they produce fewer emissions, and blending in California can generate credits under the state's low-carbon fuel standard.

Phillips 66 uses domestic and global feedstocks to produce biofuels at Rodeo, including vegetable oils, waste animal fats and used cooking oil. The company has also eyed potentially co-processing renewable feedstocks alongside petroleum at some existing US refineries, adding to co-processing capacity at its 221,000 b/d Humber refinery in the UK. Phillips 66 previously agreed to supply British Airways with SAF from that facility.

Cloudy policy

While US SAF production hit record highs this year, production of similar biofuels like biodiesel and renewable diesel is sharply down given uncertainty about future blend mandates and final eligibility for the new clean fuel tax credit. And the Energy Information Administration this month scaled back its outlook for US SAF output growth this year.

"That's the real struggle — policy has been moving around," Phillips 66 executive vice president of marketing and commercial Brian Mandell said Wednesday at the Reuters Global Energy Transition 2025 conference in New York City.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump's administration proposed record-high US biofuel blend mandates but also floated halving program credits for fuel made from foreign feedstocks, which are widely used at major coastal biorefineries. House and Senate Republicans have also toyed with changing the new tax incentive, although they differ on the details. A Senate committee draft bill, for instance, would cut in future years the extra subsidy that SAF currently earns over road fuels.

Policy is "getting clearer, but there's still a lot of elements out there that we're watching very carefully," Phillips 66 chief executive Mark Lashier said at the JP Morgan 2025 Energy, Power, Renewables, and Mining Conference in New York City this week.