JX to Join Forces with Sumitomo Corporation at Large Scale SAF/BECCS Project in Louisiana

April 11, 2024

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(Sumitomo) JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation (“JX”) (President and CEO, Toshiya Nakahara) and Sumitomo Corporation (”Sumitomo”) (President and CEO, Shingo Ueno) executed consortium agreements to manage investment in the Louisiana Green Fuels BECCS (*1) project (“Project”) at Port of Columbia, Caldwell Parish, Louisiana.

The Project is developing a sustainable aviation fuel (“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. The Project will convert woody biomass waste into synthesis gas, and then synthesize and upgrade it into SAF and Renewable Naphtha (“RN”). The Project is powered by a biomass-fired power plant using sawmill and other woody biomass waste attached with carbon dioxide (“CO2”) capture and storage (“CCS”) 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 (“JDA”) with Strategic Biofuels on the Project in February 2024. JX, through its subsidiary JX Nippon Oil Exploration (U.S.A.) Limited (“NOEX USA”), and SCOA will jointly establish a consortium Magnolia Sustainable Energy Partners (“M-SEP”) to manage and make investment in the Project. Additionally, SCOA and NOEX USA will explore further business opportunities in DACCS (*2) , BECCS, and other CCS and CDR (*3) 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.

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Toshiya Nakahara, President, and CEO of JX: “JX is excited to join this journey with Strategic Biofuels and Sumitomo, who possess remarkable technical, project management, business, and financing expertise and leadership, to jointly lead this Project to a success leveraging on our expertise in CCS built at Petra Nova CCUS (*4) project and other projects. We believe CCS will play a vital role in energy transition and realization of carbon neutrality, and this Project also presents an excellent opportunity to enhance our capability for energy transition, including BECCS.“

Koji Aso, Managing Executive Officers of Sumitomo / Head of Energy Innovation Initiative We are deeply honored to have JX, which possesses abundant expertise and technological capabilities in the CCUS field through projects like the world's largest Petra Nova CCUS project, participate in this project. Together with Japanese companies possessing unique technologies, experiences, and knowledge in the decarbonization field, we will provide various functions and values not only in terms of funding but also in collaboration with public and private stakeholders in both Japan and the United States, contributing to the success of the project. Our group has designated the United States, the world's largest consumer of jet fuel, as one of the focus regions for our SAF business, and will contribute to decarbonizing the aviation industry through the expansion of the SAF supply chain by developing SAF production and sales businesses (including feedstocks for SAF) on a global scale, starting with this project.

About Strategic Biofuels:

Strategic Biofuels LLC is a team of highly experienced energy, petrochemical and renewable fuels technology experts focused on developing a series of deeply negative carbon footprint plants in northern Louisiana that convert waste materials from managed and sustainable forests into renewable fuels. The fuels qualify for substantial Carbon Credits under the Federal Renewable Fuel Standard Program and under the California Low Carbon Fuels Standard.  For more Information, visit www.strategicbiofuels.com.

About Louisiana Green Fuels:

Louisiana Green Fuels is the first biomass waste-to-fuels project by Strategic Biofuels LLC in northern Louisiana at the Port of Columbia in Caldwell Parish. The biofuel refinery and adjacent power plant and their accompanying Class VI Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) Wells will be the first SAF project in the world to achieve “deeply negative” carbon emissions.

About JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation:

JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation have engaged in energy exploration and production (E&P) business around the world for over 40 years, as a core operating company in the ENEOS Group, one of Japan's leading company groups of comprehensive energy, natural resources, and materials. JX is operating Petra Nova CCUS project in Texas, Unites States, which captures 1.4 million tons of CO₂ per year, and is the only Japanese company that has commercialized CCUS, to expand its role beyond the existing business to contribute to the achievement of carbon neutral world. For more information, please visit https://www.nex.jx-group.co.jp/english/ .

About Sumitomo Corporation:

Sumitomo Corporation is a leading global trading company, with 108 locations in 65 countries and 20 locations in Japan. The entire Sumitomo Corporation Group consists of 900 companies and more than 80,000 personnel. The Sumitomo business is continuously expanding into a diverse range of products and services. As of December 31, 2023, Sumitomo had total assets of over $72 billion and cash-on-hand of over $4.26 billion (please refer to our website at www.sumitomocorp.com ).

BECCS: Abbreviation for Bioenergy with CCS, a technology combining biomass energy and CCS.
DACCS: Abbreviation for Direct Air Capture with CCS, technologies combining extraction of CO2 directly from the atmosphere and CCS.
CDR: Abbreviation of Carbon Dioxide Removal, a process in which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere by deliberate human activities and durable storage.
CCUS: Abbreviation of Carbon Dioxide Capture, Utilization and Storage. In addition to capturing and storing, it utilizes CO2 to generate product and energy.

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Excerpt from Sumitomo/PR Newswire: Partnership also brings additional carbon capture expertise to flagship sustainable aviation fuels project in Northern Louisiana -- Strategic Biofuels, a leading sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) project developer, announced today a strategic investment commitment from Magnolia Sustainable Energy Partners (M-SEP), a newly formed Japanese-based investment consortium created by Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCOA) and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation (JX). The investment from M-SEP will be used to further advance the company's flagship Louisiana Green Fuels (LGF) 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 Dr. 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."

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."

"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, President & 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. READ MORE