Eneos Holdings, Japan’s largest refiner, said on October 11, 2021 that it would acquire Japan Renewable Energy Corporation (JRE) for approximately 200 billion yen (US$1.8 billion) to expand its low-carbon business.

Eneos aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. It will purchase JRO from Goldman Sachs and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. The company said that this transaction marks the first large-scale acquisition of a renewable energy company by a top Japanese oil company and will help the company achieve its goal of having more than 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy in Japan and overseas by March 2023. .

Japanese oil companies have become more involved in renewable energy, just like their overseas counterparts such as Royal Dutch Shell, especially after Tokyo vowed to reduce more emissions earlier this year. Keitaro Inoue, senior vice president of Eneos, said at a press conference: As the world moves towards a decarbonized and circular society, this acquisition will mark a key turning point in fundamentally changing the structure of our business.

Inoue said that this price tag is "appropriate" given JERE's asset scale and ability to develop multiple renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass energy. JRE was established in 2012 and has 708MW of renewable energy assets, including equity-based assets under construction. After the transaction, Eneos' renewable assets will reach 1,220 megawatts. Given the relatively small capacity of JRE, it is unlikely to contribute directly to Eneos' annual sales (approximately 10 trillion yen (90 billion US dollars). Key words: new energy, overseas projects, international engineering construction, foreign engineering Construction news

However, this transaction shows that Eneos intends to start separating from fossil fuels. In the energy mix of the world's third largest economy, Japan will achieve almost twice the official renewable energy supply target. Eneos controls half of Japan's gasoline and other fuel markets, but its customer base has been shrinking over the years due to a declining population.Editor/XuNing