A 28-year veteran of oil major Shell, Doris Tan faces one of her greatest challenges yet: getting airplanes to fly on green fuel.

“To me, the North Star for aviation is very clear: We have to decarbonise in order to grow, if we all still want to fly,” said the general manager of jet-fuel supplier Shell Aviation for the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

Aviation accounted for 2.5 per cent of the world’s energy-related emissions in 2023, but the industry wants to achieve net-zero emissions from operations by 2050. Shell aims to hit net-zero by the same year.

Sustainable aviation fuel – made from used cooking oil or other renewable feedstock – is the “single most feasible solution we have” to cut emissions from flying, she said.

Tan, 52, is the first Singaporean to hold her position and had an atypical start to the job. Just as she took on the role in March 2020, COVID-19 brought flying to a standstill, leaving the jet fuel industry in uncertainty.

It may have seemed like the worst time possible to lead an aviation fuel business, but she saw a silver lining.

“In hindsight, I think that was the best time to take on the role because it gave me the time and space to think about what’s next for the business, what’s next for the industry,” she said.

This breathing room catalysed her efforts to bring sustainable aviation fuel into Singapore and other markets.

Under her leadership, Shell upgraded its Singapore facility to enable the blending of this type of fuel.

In 2022, it became the first supplier of the fuel in Singapore, with shipments to the Republic of Singapore Air Force and Singapore Airlines Engineering Company.

Shell brought sustainable aviation fuel into Hong Kong in 2022, and Dubai the following year. It has supplied the fuel to carriers such as Japan Airlines and Cebu Pacific, and business aviation firms Bombardier and Jet Aviation.

Today, Shell supplies this green fuel in 80 locations across 18 countries.

Strategy in a challenging market

Sustainable aviation fuel costs two to five times more than regular jet fuel, as used cooking oil is challenging to procure. Production methods that tap other raw materials – such as alcohol or waste industrial gases – are still in their infancy, and the output from such sources is even more expensive.

Tan has had to strategise Shell’s role in the supply chain carefully, weighing the investment possibilities against potential returns.

In 2021, Shell started studying the possibility of producing sustainable aviation fuel in Pulau Bukom – where it had a refinery complex – to supply the likes of Changi Airport and the Hong Kong International Airport.

But in 2023, the company decided not to go ahead with the project, in a move guided by the need for “acceptable returns” and maintaining capital discipline, said Tan.

“(It) became clear that the project would be insufficiently competitive across a range of options in our portfolio to meet our customers’ need for affordable, low-carbon products.”

Shell sold its Pulau Bukom assets last year, to pivot to more lucrative businesses in the region.

That said, Tan still sees Shell playing a key role in the sustainable aviation fuel market. “The most critical shortage that we see today is in the infrastructure: the tanks at the airport, the blending facilities, the terminals,” she said.

She believes that Shell strengthening such infrastructure “will help meet growing demand and reduce bottlenecks at airports”.

No stranger to the unknown

Navigating unknown terrain is not new to Tan, who has taken the path less travelled to her current role.

A graduate in retail marketing from the National University of Singapore, she started her career in fashion merchandising. In 1998, she joined Shell to expand its retail kiosks, focusing on the convenience store strategy.

She moved to a consulting role in a McKinsey-style unit within Shell, where she looked into the company’s business in Europe, the US, and Russia.

Tan also accumulated experience in other divisions, such as lubricant sales – which included visits to logging and mining sites – as well as commercial fuels.

She cites a willingness to “unlearn and learn again” as being vital. “I’m somebody who has no qualms going to my people to say: ‘I do not know this, please teach me’.”

“Still not enough”

Even with Shell Aviation supplying green jet fuel in 80 locations, Tan deems this figure as “still not enough”, especially with travel demand set to further boom in Asia.

She pointed out that just 17 per cent of Japanese hold passports. The proportion is even lower in other key Asian markets – 11 per cent in China, and 7 per cent in India.

“It means that our part of the world – as wealth increases, as population increases – we are going to really see a very steep increase in aviation growth,” she said.

This comes amid growing support for sustainable aviation fuel from policymakers.

For instance, Singapore aims for the green fuel to account for 1 per cent of all jet fuel used at Changi and Seletar airports in 2026, rising to 3 to 5 per cent by 2030.

The Republic has set up a central buyer for sustainable aviation fuel, and introduced a levy for the fuel, ranging from S$1 to S$41.60 for each airline ticket.

Countries such as Malaysia and Japan are also introducing sustainable aviation fuel mandates, a momentum that Tan described as encouraging.

“In the last five years, one thing that I see that is really progressing is the commitment and the actions that are being taken by the governments in the Asian economies,” she said.

Chicken-and-egg quandary

That said, there is also a “chicken-and-egg” quandary: whether a certain amount of demand should be built up first, or if the supply needs to come in first.

Tan’s answer: Both need to be developed concurrently.

She cites corporate demand as a key ingredient which “moves the needle” for sustainable aviation fuel.

Such demand could come from companies that need to reduce emissions arising from staff travel or the goods they ship globally.

Corporate demand will “give a very strong signal to oil producers and the whole supply chain’s actors, to build up the infrastructure”, Tan said.

Demand from companies could grow with the use of “book-and-claim” systems. They allow companies to purchase the emissions reductions benefits associated with a batch of green jet fuel – even if they are not in the same location where the fuel was injected into a refuelling station.

In 2022, Shell launched a digital book-and-claim platform, Avelia, built in collaboration with Accenture and the Energy Web Foundation.

There are now 66 corporations and airlines on the platform, which taps blockchain technology to ensure traceability.

This year, Shell opened up Avelia to other sustainable aviation fuel suppliers, acting on feedback from airline companies.

With such efforts gaining traction, Tan sees herself being in the right place. “Asia is where aviation will grow, and because of that, I’m excited to be part of this change that we’re going to see.”

Three questions with Doris Tan, head of Shell Aviation in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East

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