April 21, 2025
BY Aemetis Inc.
Aemetis Inc., a diversified global renewable natural gas and biofuels company, on April 21 announced the company’s subsidiary in India, Universal Biofuels, received multiple orders for an aggregate of $31 million for the delivery during May, June and July of more than 33,000 kiloliters of biodiesel to the three government-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs).
Additional OMC orders are expected throughout the year in order to continue shipments to fuel blending terminals on an ongoing basis to support the India government goal of increasing from a 1% to 5% biodiesel blend.
”Universal Biofuels and other biodiesel producers look forward to continuous support from the government of India to ensure that climate issues are addressed, while ensuring a healthy biodiesel industry,” stated Sanjeev Duggal, CEO of Universal Biofuels.
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“We are pleased with the progress being made in India in support of the 5% biodiesel blending target of more than 1.2 billion gallons per year,” stated Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis. “The OMCs did not take deliveries during this past winter and instead decided to issue new orders for biodiesel with deliveries from May to July. Our Universal Biofuels subsidiary has successfully completed deliveries under contracts with the OMCs for the past several years, highlighting our track record for producing and timely delivering high quality renewable fuels at our India plant.”
Recently, India achieved a 20% ethanol blend into gasoline and the government stated a new 30% blend target for ethanol, enabling further growth in ethanol production and expanding revenues for farmers while reducing the importation of petroleum gasoline into India.
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Universal Biofuels significantly expanded the production capacity of the Kakinada biodiesel plant to 80 million gallons per year during a recent plant upgrade and maintenance cycle, including expansion of its proprietary process that produces biodiesel from waste and byproducts that Universal utilizes to produce biofuels that are lower carbon intensity at a significantly reduced cost.
Aemetis’ Universal Biofuels subsidiary is one of the largest biodiesel producers in India, having been in operation for more than 17 years. Universal Biofuels increased annual biodiesel capacity from 50 million gallons to 80 million gallons last year, with further biodiesel expansion to other locations and diversification into biogas production planned for 2025. To support further growth, Universal Biofuels is preparing for an IPO in India which is expected to be completed in late 2025, subject to continued favorable stock market conditions.
Universal Biofuels completed $112 million of biodiesel and glycerine shipments in the twelve months ended September 2024, including deliveries to the three government-owned oil marketing companies under a cost-plus contract. Shipments of biodiesel to OMC’s are expected to begin in early May under the next round of biodiesel contracts.
The U.S. exported 15,050.4 metric tons of biodiesel and biodiesel blends of B30 or greater in March, according to data released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service on May 6. Biodiesel imports were at 14,991.9 metric tons for the month.
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal on May 5 announced that a preliminary investigation launched earlier this year did not find evidence that imports of U.S. renewable diesel are causing harm to Canada’s domestic renewable diesel industry.
Marathon Petroleum Corp. on May 6 reported improved first quarter EBITDA for its renewable diesel segment on increased utilization of its facilities, particularly the Martinez biorefinery in California, and higher margins.
According to a new economic contribution study released by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association on May 6, Iowa biofuels production has begun to reflect stagnant corn demand throughout the agriculture economy.
SAF production is growing in the U.S. as new capacity comes online. U.S. production of “other biofuels,” the category the U.S. EIA uses to capture SAF data in its reports, approximately doubled from December 2024 to February 2025.