It is clear that Liepaja’s industrial ambitions embody the spirit of Latvia

“It is clear that Liepaja’s industrial ambitions embody the spirit of Latvia,” stated the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia Melissa Argyros, who on April 16 familiarized herself with the operations of the Port of Liepaja and the Special Economic Zone. The Liepaja SEZ CEO Uldis Hmieļevskis introduced the Ambassador to the planned green energy and industrial projects, which are unified within the Liepaja Sustainable Industry Hub and complement one another.

One of the projects is directly linked to the U.S. global engineering technology company KBR, Inc., which will supply the NorSaf plant with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and synthetic fuel (eSAF) production technology. KBR’s revenue last year amounted to $7.8 billion - the company specializes in both the development and implementation of advanced technologies, creating large-scale industrial facilities around the world - this being its first project in the Baltics. Notably, KBR has been fulfilling NASA contracts for space missions worth billions of dollars for over 60 years.

Jānis Kisiels, Member of the Board of LSEZ SIA “NorSAF”: we are proud to work shoulder to shoulder with such a professional, experienced, and successful company as KBR to develop and implement the first and largest high-tech project in sustainable aviation fuel in the Baltics and Northern Europe. It is also exciting to observe KBR’s work daily - the company is an important NASA partner, contributing technical expertise and operational support to missions such as the Artemis program and the James Webb Space Telescope. By utilizing these technologies, NorSAF will strengthen Latvia’s and Europe’s energy and regional security by ensuring the availability of sustainable aviation fuel.

The Liepaja SEZ company NorSAF is developing an industrial-scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and synthetic fuel (eSAF) production facility in the Liepaja Special Economic Zone. The plant is planned to use innovative technologies licensed from KBR, as well as raw materials - CO₂, bioethanol, and green hydrogen - to ensure the production of next-generation aviation fuels in line with the EU decarbonization goals.