Oil company to purchase $9.1 million of Casterra’s proprietary castor seeds for biofuel production

Castor

Casterra Ag Ltd., a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd., announced June 21 that it signed a framework agreement to sell seeds of its proprietary castor varieties to one of the world’s leading oil and gas companies for cultivation in specific African territories.

Initial purchase orders, valued at an aggregate of $9.1 million, were received and the seeds are expected to be delivered sometime this year.

Casterra’s high-yield, high-oil castor-seed varieties are optimized for biofuel production to support the growing market of sustainable energy.

Based on Casterra’s analysis, the purchase orders reported June 21 can support the production of approximately 1.5 percent of the current world demand for nonfossil oil for biodiesel.

Biofuels offer significant advantages over conventional petrochemical fuels, presenting a renewable and biodegradable alternative with substantially lower negative environmental impact compared to other alternative-fuel sources.

Castor emerges as a standout biofuel candidate due to its carbon-neutral properties, with emissions during combustion closely matching the carbon dioxide absorbed during the growth of castor plants.

Furthermore, the castor plant can be cultivated on marginal lands, in semiarid to arid conditions, and it does not compete on ground with edible crops.

Casterra, as Evogene’s subsidiary, spearheads the development of proprietary high-yield castor varieties leveraging the company’s cutting-edge computational biology technologies.

By utilizing Evogene’s GeneRator AI tech engine and incorporating advanced computational AI capabilities and proprietary plant-genomic databases, Casterra has unlocked the potential to produce castor varieties with exceptional yield and high oil content, setting new standards in the biofuel industry.

“We are thrilled with this business opportunity, which signifies a transformative step forward in the biofuel industry,” said Eyal Ronen, CEO of Casterra. “By harnessing Evogene’s cutting-edge computational biology technologies, Casterra is at the forefront of developing and supplying high-performance seeds for biofuel production that address the growing demand for cleaner and more sustainable energy. We believe that this achievement is just the beginning of a long-term relationship with our existing partner. Together we are driving the future of sustainable-energy solutions for the benefit of our planet.”

Casterra has built its castor genetic assets based on a broad collection of more than 300 castor lines from over 40 different geographic and climatic regions.