Japanese investment consortium invests in Strategic Biofuels
April 10, 2024
BY Sumitomo Corporation of Americas
Strategic Biofuels, a leading sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) project developer, announced on April 9 a strategic investment commitment from Magnolia Sustainable Energy Partners (M-SEP), a newly formed Japanese-based investment consortium created by Sumitomo Corporation of Americas and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp. The investment from M-SEP will be used to further advance the company's flagship Louisiana Green Fuels project, an ultra-low carbon negative SAF plant located in Caldwell Parish, Louisiana.
"Our partnership with JX and Sumitomo through their new consortium, M-SEP, will bring both financial support and the deep carbon capture technical expertise that is needed to continue advancing toward construction," said Paul Schubert, CEO of Strategic Biofuels. "Our LGF project has first and foremost been a mission of low-carbon sustainability, and the milestones we have achieved to-date are a testament to how strategic and collaborative partnerships like this one can advance cleaner technologies."
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In addition to being a strategic investor through the consortium, JX will add its expertise to the company's LGF project, leveraging its carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) experience gained in building and operating the Petra Nova Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) project near Houston. The LGF project, which will convert sustainably managed forestry waste into the world's preeminent responsibly developed SAF into a CCS component that will capture and store carbon dioxide onsite from both its biomass-fired power plant and biorefinery.
"The LGF project presents an excellent opportunity to enhance our capability for the greater energy transition by leveraging our CCS experience," said Toshiya Nakahara, president and CEO of JX. "It's an honor to work with Strategic Biofuels and SCOA, who possess remarkable technical, project management, business, and financing expertise and leadership to help us achieve our goals."
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"CCS will play a vital role in achieving carbon neutrality. JX's engagement will enhance the success of producing ultra-low carbon SAF product and we're excited about the future with these two partners," said Tom Wada, resident & CEO of SCOA. "We have ambitious plans to support global energy security, sustainability, and carbon reduction goals and are confident that the LGF project is a step in the right direction. We continue to support creating strategic partnership with Japanese strategic investors through M-SEP"
In February, SCOA announced a major investment commitment to Strategic Biofuels' LGF project, revealing that it will help the project reach a Financial Investment Decision and commencement of construction in early 2025. At the same time, Strategic Biofuels announced that it would be shifting its primary renewable fuel product to SAF. SCOA intends to provide a 20-year offtake for the approximately 640 million gallons of renewable fuels produced as well as all state and federal renewable fuel credits.
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