Aemetis Inc. released fourth quarter financial results on March 7, reporting the company achieved important milestones in its biodiesel, renewable natural gas (RNG), ethanol, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and carbon capture business segments last year. 

The company’s biodiesel plant in India expanded production capacity to 60 MMgy during the third quarter of last year, with plans to expand to 100 MMgy in 2025.  The facility employs an enzymatic process that enables the use of lower cost feedstocks.  Aemetis reported its biodiesel segment reported $77.2 million in annual sales for 2023, up 175% when compared to 2022.

Andy Foster, president of Aemetis North America, discussed the company’s RNG business, noting that Aemetis Biogas will have nine dairy digesters operating by the end of this month. The company plans to accelerate the rate of biogas digester development this year. Eric McAfee, chairman and CEO of Aemetis, said the company plans to have 18 dairy digesters online by the end of 2024.

Aemetis made the decision to idle its 65 MMgy corn ethanol plant located in Keyes, California, during the first five months of 2023 due to extraordinarily high natural gas prices. The company took advantage of the shutdown to accelerate planned plant efficiency and electrification projects to further reduce the carbon intensity (CI) of the ethanol produced at the facility, according to Foster. In addition, the company installed a new distributed control system with artificial intelligence capabilities. When all planned plant upgrades are complete next year, Aemetis expects natural gas usage at the Keyes plant to be reduced by more than 80%.  The Keyes plant resumed operations in late May and ramped up production during June and July. Todd Waltz, chief financial officer of Aemetis, said ethanol gallons sold reached 15 million gallons during the fourth quarter, up from 13.4 million gallons during the same period of 2022.

McAfee discussed the proposed 90 MMgy Riverbank plant, which is expected to have the capacity to produce 45 MMgy of SAF and 45 MMgy of renewable diesel. The company received the authority to construct air permits for the project in March. The project is now fully permitted, which is expected to allow the company to make progress this year towards closing project financing.

McAfee also briefly discussed the carbon capture and storage (CCS) project under development by Aemetis, noting that the company was issued a CO2 characterization well permit last year. That characterization well is designed to provide geologic data for the Class VI injection well planned for the development at the Riverbank site. 

Aemetis reported $70.8 million in revenues for the fourth quarter, up from $66.7 million during the same period of 2022. The California ethanol segment accounted for $45 million of revenues and the India biodiesel segment accounted for $22 million of revenues during the period. 

Gross profit during the fourth quarter was $864,000, compared to a gross loss of $1.1 million during the same period of 2022. Operating loss was $9 million, compared to an operating loss of $8.7 million. Net loss was $25.4 million, compared to a net loss of $22.4 million. 

For the full year 2023, Aemetis reported revenues of $187 million, down from $257 million in 2022. The India biodiesel segment generated $77.2 million of revenues, while the California RNG segment generated $5.5 million in revenue and the California ethanol segment generated $104.3 million in revenue. 

Gross profit for 2024 was $ million, compared to a gross loss of $5.5 million in 2022. Operating loss was $37.4 million, compared to an operating loss of $34.4 million. Net loss was $46.6 million, compared to a net loss of $107.8 million in 2022.