Tracking energy innovators from Houston, Texas. Forbes reporter since 1999.
Richard Palmer of Global Clean Energy used Exxon money to overhaul an aging California oil refinery in order to process the oil-rich seeds of a plant called camelina. Now Exxon is suing.was May 2020, and despite the encroaching wave of Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, Richard Palmer, founder and chairman of Global Clean Energy Holdings was thrilled with his new acquisition. Palmer's prize was a rusting, 90-year-old refinery in Bakersfield, California that GCEH was buying for $40 million cash.
An Exxon spokeswoman wouldn’t comment on the case or share Exxon’s assessment of camelina’s potential. Exxon has reason to be skittish around biofuels, having nothing to show for pouring a half billion dollars into a 15-year-long JV with billionaire DNA-savant Craig Venter’s Synthetic Genomics to engineer lipid-rich green algae that could be squeezed to make biofuels. Exxon finally abandoned that greenwashing venture last year. It makes sense not to hype a new plant only to underdeliver again.
That's because both camelina-based biodiesel and renewable aviation fuel are “drop ins” — chemically near-identical to traditional versions distilled from fossil petroleum. This is in contrast, for example, with corn ethanol, blended at 10% into most of the nation’s gasoline supply. Ethanol and gasoline don’t mix well, and ethanol doesn’t combust with the same explosive power as gasoline. But ethanol is firmly entrenched in America’s fuel supply, and ag industry.
“It could be a big deal,” says Robert Bonnie, Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which he says is keen to promote such “climate-smart commodities.” Will ExxonMobil end up taking over? Its lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court alleges that GCEH management had defaulted on its shareholder agreement with Exxon — particularly when it agreed to extend and inflate its deal with general contractor CTCI without informing Exxon’s board members. GCEH has filed a stipulation to answer in abeyance while the two parties try to work it out.
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