JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation have executed consortium agreements to manage investment in the Louisiana Green Fuels BECCS project at Port of Columbia, Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, according to a news release.
The project is developing a SAF production plant with renewable Naphtha as a byproduct utilizing woody biomass waste, such as thinning, with the production capacity of 32 million gallons (120,000 kiloliters) per year and the scheduled commercial operation date in 2029.
It will convert woody biomass waste into synthesis gas, and then synthesize and upgrade it into SAF and renewable naphtha. The Project is powered by a biomass-fired power plant using sawmill and other woody biomass waste attached with carbon dioxide capture and storage facility addressing CO2 emitted from the project, both installed onsite and owned by the project. As a result, the SAF and RN produced from this integrated project achieves deeply negative carbon emission (equivalent to removing nearly 300,000 passenger cars from the road every year). Once complete, the project will create approximately 150 direct jobs onsite, while five to six times as many indirect job opportunities are also expected and will contribute to the improvement of the local quality of life.
This project, which contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the enhancement of energy security, will accelerate the development based on the utilization of various U.S. government support measures, including the Inflation Reduction Act and the Department of Energy’s Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program established to promote clean energy technologies.
Sumitomo, through its subsidiary Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCOA) entered into Joint Development Agreement with Strategic Biofuels on the Project in February 2024. JX, through its subsidiary JX Nippon Oil Exploration (U.S.A.) Limited, and SCOA will jointly establish a consortium Magnolia Sustainable Energy Partners to manage and make investment in the Project.
According to the agreement, SCOA takes an anchor position and leads the formation of a Japanese-based investment consortium aimed at funding the majority of development capital needed to carry the project to FID and commencement of construction in early 2025. As part of the agreement, SCOA will also acquire rights at FID to participate for a portion of the full project equity requirement.
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.
Additionally, SCOA and NOEX USA will explore further business opportunities in DACCS, BECCS, and other CCS and CDR fields by leveraging the Sumitomo Corporation Group’s global initiatives in the CCUS sector and the abundant expertise and technological capabilities of the JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation Group.
