Eni Sustainable Mobility S.p.A, part of Italy-headed oil, gas, and energy major Eni S.p.A., and US-based PBF Energy Inc. have announced the closing of a previously announced 50-50 joint venture partnership in St. Bernard Renewables LLC (SBR), an operating biorefinery co-located with PBF’s Chalmette Refinery in Louisiana (LA).
PBF’s affiliate contributed the biorefinery and other assets comprising the business to SBR and Eni Sustainable Mobility’s affiliate has committed to make capital reimbursements and contributions totaling US$835 million to PBF, of which US$431 million was paid at closing.
Closing the St. Bernard Renewables biorefinery 50 percent acquisition and creating a dedicated joint venture together with an important US industrial partner as PBF confirms the relevance of biofuels in Eni Sustainable Mobility, which is already running two biorefineries in Italy, and it is a further step on the path to decarbonize transports, including ‘hard to abate’ sectors such as heavy duty transportation, said Stefano Ballista, CEO of Eni Sustainable Mobility.
The remainder of the total consideration will be contributed by Eni Sustainable Mobility upon the start-up of the pre-treatment unit (PTU). An additional US$50 million in contingent consideration will be paid by Eni Sustainable Mobility subject to the achievement of certain project milestones and performance criteria.
The closing will enable Eni Sustainable Mobility to immediately increase its refining capacity from 1.1 to over 1.6 million tonnes per year and to enter the most relevant markets in line with its goal to reach over 3 million tonnes per year by 2025 and more than 5 million tonnes per year by 2030, by contributing to Eni strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 through the reduction of the emissions generated during the entire products life cycle, Stefano Ballista said.
Operations underway
The St. Bernard Renewables biorefinery has commenced operations with the production of commercial products beginning in June. The PTU is mechanically complete and its start-up is expected in the coming weeks.
Closing this strategic partnership with Eni Sustainable Mobility, a global leader in biorefining, demonstrates our commitment to delivering diversified sources of energy to our customers while lowering the carbon intensity of the products we manufacture, said Matthew Lucey, President of PBF.
SBR is currently targeted to have a processing capacity of about 1.1 million tonnes per year of raw materials, with full pretreatment capabilities. The biorefinery is using the “Ecofining” process developed by Eni in cooperation with Honeywell UOP.
It will produce mainly HVO Diesel (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil, commonly known as ‘renewable diesel’ in North America), with a production capacity of 306 million (US) gallons (≈ 1.2 billion litres) per annum.
SBR will operate as an independent entity with feed procurement and product distribution managed by a dedicated team working on behalf of the St. Bernard Renewables joint venture.
While the partnership is set to benefit from its co-location with PBF’s Chalmette refinery through a variety of shared services, the operations and ownership of the existing Chalmette refinery will not be affected by the formation of the new partnership.
The SBR biorefinery will benefit from PBF and Eni’s complementary strengths and expertise. We are excited about our partnership with Eni and look forward to reaching full operations at SBR, ended Matthew Lucey.
