Universal Biofuels selected to supply 8 million gallons of biodiesel to OMCs

Aemetis, Inc. announced that its Universal Biofuels subsidiary in India was selected by the three government-controlled oil marketing companies (OMCs) and a major oil refiner to supply approximately 8,000,000 gallons of biodiesel over the next two months. 

Universal Biofuels owns and operates biodiesel plant located near the Port of Kakinada on India’s east coast.

The combined revenues from the shipments are expected to be about $41 million and are scheduled to require the Aemetis biodiesel/glycerin production plant to operate near 100% capacity.

About 70% of the diesel and gasoline in India is supplied by the OMCs, with the remaining fuel supplied by large non-government refineries.  This volume of biodiesel to be supplied by Aemetis is expected to continue to occur in two-month bidding tenders on an ongoing basis to meet the requirements of the recently updated India National Biofuels Policy.

The total volume tendered by the India OMCs was approximately 360 million gallons for the two-month delivery period, which equals more than 2 billion gallons of ongoing biodiesel demand on an annual basis from the OMCs.  Additionally, with limited domestic biodiesel production capacity to meet the goals of the India National Biofuels Policy, the private oil refineries in India have actively moved forward with biodiesel purchases and have begun to develop long-term biodiesel supply relationships. As one of India’s largest domestic biodiesel producers, Aemetis Universal Biofuels is well positioned to help meet this growing domestic demand.

India consumes about 25 billion gallons of petroleum diesel each year. A 5% minimum blend of biodiesel was adopted as a goal under the 2022 National Biofuels Policy to reduce the importation of crude oil into India.  The biofuels policy seeks to improve the environment through lower air pollution from diesel vehicles and an improved economy by increasing the domestic production of biodiesel feedstocks.  Biodiesel feedstocks include renewable oils that are byproducts from food production, which can lower the overall cost of food and improve the environment by creating new markets for these byproducts.