Eni, PBF Energy close on joint venture as SBR begins commercial production of renewable diesel

The St. Bernard Renewables biorefinery is now operational (Photo: Eni Sustainable Mobility)

Eni Sustainable Mobility S.p.A. and PBF Energy Inc. announced June 28 the closing of a 50/50 joint-venture partnership in St. Bernard Renewables LLC, an operating biorefinery co-located with PBF’s Chalmette Refinery in Louisiana.

PBF’s affiliate contributed the biorefinery and other assets comprising the business to SBR and Eni’s affiliate has committed to make capital reimbursements and contributions totaling $835 million to PBF, of which $431 million was paid at closing.

The remainder of the total consideration will be contributed by Eni upon start-up of the pretreatment unit (PTU).

An additional $50 million in contingent consideration will be paid by Eni subject to the achievement of certain project milestones and performance criteria.

“Closing the St. Bernard Renewables biorefinery 50 percent acquisition and creating a dedicated joint venture together with an important U.S. industrial partner as PBF confirms the relevance of biofuels in Eni Sustainable Mobility, which is already running two biorefineries in Italy, and it is a further step on the path to decarbonize transports, including hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy duty,” said Stefano Ballista, CEO of Eni Sustainable Mobility. “The closing will enable Eni Sustainable Mobility to immediately increase its refining capacity from 1.1 million tons to over 1.6 million tons per year and to enter in the most relevant markets in line with its goal to reach over 3 million tons per year by 2025 and more than 5 million tons per year by 2030, by contributing to Eni’s strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 through the reduction of the emissions generated during the entire products lifecycle.”

PBF President Matthew Lucey added, “Closing this strategic partnership with Eni Sustainable Mobility, a global leader in biorefining, demonstrates our commitment to delivering diversified sources of energy to our customers, while lowering the carbon intensity of the products we manufacture. The SBR biorefinery will benefit from PBF and Eni’s complementary strengths and expertise. We are excited about our partnership with Eni and look forward to reaching full operations at SBR.”

The St. Bernard Renewables biorefinery has commenced operations with production of commercial product beginning in June.

The PTU is mechanically complete and its start-up is expected in the coming weeks.

SBR is currently targeted to have processing capacity of about 1.1 million tons per year of raw materials, with full pretreatment capabilities.

It will produce mainly renewable diesel with a production capacity of 306 million gallons per year.

The biorefinery is using the Ecofining™ process developed by Eni in cooperation with Honeywell UOP.

SBR will operate as an independent entity with feed procurement and product distribution managed by a dedicated team working on behalf of the St. Bernard Renewables joint venture.

While the partnership is set to benefit from its co-location with PBF’s Chalmette refinery through a variety of shared services, the operations and ownership of the existing Chalmette refinery will not be affected by the formation of the new partnership.