Chevron Takes 22% Stake in Texas Biodiesel Company

11 May 2006

Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiary, Chevron Technology Ventures LLC (CTV), has invested in a Texas-based company that is building a biodiesel plant that will have the potential to produce up to 100 million gallons per year.

Chevron has taken a 22% stake in Galveston Bay Biodiesel LP (GBB). The Houston-based company is constructing a biodiesel production and distribution facility in Galveston, Texas, scheduled for completion by the end of 2006.

GBB will have initial production of 20 million gallons per year, and the facility has the capability to expand operations to produce 100 million gallons of fuel per year. Total US biodiesel production in 2005 was 75 million gallons.

GBB will produce biodiesel from soybeans and other renewable feedstocks. GBB has the option to sell pure biodiesel or biodiesel blended with off-road or on-road diesel into marine, commercial, trucking and industrial markets in the Galveston and Houston metropolitan areas.

The biodiesel industry in North America is at an early stage of development, typified by small operations producing small quantities of fuel. This is an opportunity to engage in one of the first large-scale biodiesel production operations, providing renewable fuel to industry in Galveston, Houston and surrounding areas.

—Dana Flanders, president CTV

Other investors in GBB are Contango Capital Biofuels Partners LP, Galveston Bay Biodiesel Management LLC, Sultex LLC, Mobius Risk Group LLC, and Beaver Creek Fund, Ltd.

Imperium Renewables, the parent of Seattle Biodiesel, recently announced a planned 100-million gallon-per-year biodiesel plant in Washington state. (Earlier post.)