SINGAPORE, March 12 (Reuters) - Apical Group is considering investing in one or two sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) projects in southeast Asia and Europe as demand for lower carbon fuels rises towards 2030, a senior company executive said.

These could come on the back of recent investment in a 1.2 billion euros ($1.31 billion) joint venture with Spain's Cepsa to build southern Europe's largest biofuels plant. This will start operating in 2026 and aims to produce 500,000 metric tons per year (tpy) of renewable diesel and SAF.

"Hopefully, we can conclude a refinery plan in the next one or two years," Apical's Executive Director Pratheepan Karunagaran told Reuters.

Apical, a vegetable oil processor that is a member of Singapore-based conglomerate RGE Group, aims to meet SAF demand forecast to reach 18 million to 20 million tpy in 2030.

The company supplies organic feedstocks such as agricultural waste from palm plantations and used cooking oil to biofuel producers.

Karunagaran did not rule out Singapore, where the government recently announced a mandate to use 1% SAF from 2026, as a possible location for its new plants. Finnish biofuels producer Neste already operates a SAF plant in the city state.

"The two projects are not necessarily going to be the same size," he said, adding that should the project be in Singapore it would also export SAF to meet demand elsewhere. The cost would be "anywhere between $1,500 per ton to $2,000 per ton of production capacity", Karunagaran said, depending on size.

Biofuels are seen by some as essential in decarbonising transportation, such as aviation, which is hard to electrify.

SAF, which can be made synthetically from hydrogen or from biological materials such as used cooking oil or wood chips, can cost five times as much as conventional fuel and accounts for just 0.2% of the jet fuel market, requiring government mandates and policies to drive demand.

Organic feedstocks such as agricultural waste, used cooking oil and animal fats are limited and SAF demand may exceed raw material supply after 2030.

Renewable diesel and SAF demand is forecast to reach 50 million tons in 2030, with raw material supply falling short by 10 to 15 million tons, Apical executive Ansul Anurag said. ($1 = 0.915 euros) (Reporting by Florence Tan and Trixie Yap; Editing by Alexander Smith)