Braya Renewable Fuels makes first domestic renewable diesel sale

Braya Renewable Fuels sold 100,000 barrels of renewable diesel into the Canadian domestic market on June 15 from its Come By Chance refinery in Newfoundland and Labrador, and said additional deliveries may follow.

Todd O’Malley, Braya’s chief executive, said the move into Canada fulfilled a goal set when the refinery began commercial operations two years ago. Braya reached commercial operations on Feb. 22, 2024, after finishing the conversion of its former petroleum refinery at Come By Chance into a renewable fuels plant.

The new sale gives Braya a domestic customer base after its first biofuel cargo left Newfoundland and Labrador on March 27, 2024, bound for a California buyer. That shipment was produced from soya bean oil.

The Come By Chance site is an 18,000 barrel per day renewable diesel facility, with plans to move into sustainable aviation fuel and green hydrogen. The refinery sits on Placentia Bay and is able to serve Canada, the United States and Europe.

The project’s ownership and rebuild were backed by Cresta Fund Management, which took a controlling interest in late 2021. Federal support announced in 2022 totaled up to C$86 million and was tied to commercializing renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel at the site. The government said the conversion was expected to create 800 construction jobs and sustain 200 full-time jobs.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government said in 2025 that the company’s commercial operations had been affected by changes to U.S. tax credit programs. The province later provided a repayable loan to help secure the facility’s long-term future.