GCEH updates shareholders on California renewable diesel conversion project

Photo: Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc.

Richard Palmer, president and CEO of Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc., released a letter to shareholders updating them on its vertically integrated renewable fuels business, including a status update on its petroleum refinery conversion project to manufacture renewable diesel in Bakersfield, California. The facility will use Haldor Topsoe technology to produce 230 MMgy.

“When completed in early 2022, the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels refinery will be the largest renewable fuels facility in the western U.S., the second largest in the U.S., and one of the top five in the world,” Palmer said in his letter.

Palmer said site work continues, along with planning, preparation, detailed engineering and construction. “We have placed orders for all the major equipment, which is a critical path to construction completion,” he said, adding that the project is on track for a January 2022 start-up.

An update on GCEH’s upstream feedstock business, Sustainable Oils Inc., was also provided. “In 2020 we filed an additional seven patent applications, which, when granted, will significantly expand our unique intellectual property portfolio in camelina,” Palmer said. “We expect to file an additional six patent applications this month. We continue our focused efforts to expand our unique position in the renewable fuels market by fully integrating upstream feedstock production with our downstream renewable fuels production asset in Bakersfield, California. The integrated supply chain with cost-based feedstocks differentiates us from all renewable fuel producers worldwide.”

According to Palmer, Sustainable Oils has enough certified camelina seed to plant up to 110,000 acres in 2021. “We have already contracted with farmers for enough certified camelina seed production in 2021 to plant up to 225,000 acres of Camelina in crop year 2022,” he said. “We continue to execute contracts for 2021 crop production in the Pacific Northwest, the Northern Plains and the Midwest.”

Palmer pointed out how GCEH’s total assets have increased to more than $211 million in Q3 2020, up from $9.4 million at the end of 2019. The company also plans to move its shares from the over-the-counter (OTC) markets to a national exchange, such as Nasdaq, “as soon as practically possible.”