Initial $20 Million of Third Quarter Cost-Plus Contracts Awarded by Government Oil Companies; India Oil Company Senior Executives Tour Aemetis India Biodiesel Plant

Aemetis Universal Biofuels subsidiary completes 100% of Second Quarter Shipments to the Government-owned Oil Companies; Aemetis Already Awarded 18,000 kiloliters of Biodiesel for Q3 Delivery; Additional Q3 Contracts in Process

CUPERTINO, CA, July 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire - Aemetis, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMTX), a renewable natural gas and renewable fuels company focused on negative carbon intensity products, announced today that its Universal Biofuels subsidiary in India has been awarded an initial $20 million of cost-plus contracts for delivery to government-owned oil companies during the third quarter.  Additional cost-plus contracts with OMCs are in process for delivery during the third quarter.

An initial 18,000 kiloliters of biodiesel of cost-plus biodiesel contracts for delivery during Q3 2023 have been awarded to Aemetis. Universal Biofuels completed approximately $34 million of second quarter shipments that were sold under cost-plus contracts with government-owned oil companies, though Q2 quarterly revenues will not reflect about $1.8 million of shipments in transit at the end of the quarter.

Universal Biofuels recently hosted several India Oil Company senior executives for detailed tours of the Aemetis India biodiesel plant. The India Oil Company executives that toured the 50-million-gallon capacity Kakinada plant included the Executive Director and the Chief Operating Manager who oversee biodiesel procurement. 

“The Universal Biofuels biodiesel plant has an exceptional record of timely delivery and very high quality,” stated Sanjeev Gupta, President of Aemetis International.  “Approximately 50,000 kiloliters of biodiesel have been delivered to the three Government-owned Oil Companies in the last two contract periods, with only 10 kiloliters that did not pass the first acceptance test despite deliveries that often require many days of truck travel and unloading delays.”

“India Oil Company is a leader in the expansion of biodiesel and other renewable fuels in India,” stated Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis, Inc. “The timely delivery of the Q3 biodiesel tender by the three Oil Marketing Companies and the timely award of initial volumes for Q3 delivery enables Universal Biofuels to maximize production volumes to meet India government biofuels blending goals.”

Built by Aemetis near the India port of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, the Universal Biofuels plant is the largest biodiesel production facility in India.  Expanded biodiesel production supports the Indian government’s initial goal of a 1% biodiesel blend in the amount of about 250 million gallons per year, on the way to fulfilling the 5% blend (1.25 billion gallons per year) set forth in the 2022 National Biofuels Policy.

India consumes about 25 billion gallons per year of diesel, but India does not have a meaningful amount of domestic oil production and is dependent on imported crude oil to supply its petroleum refineries.  The adoption of a 5% biodiesel blend target by the India government under the 2022 National Biofuels Policy is expected to reduce the amount of petroleum imported into India, reduce the export of dollars exported to purchase crude oil, strengthen domestic agricultural producers and processors, and significantly improve air quality while reducing carbon pollution. 

Petroleum diesel emissions are a significant contributor to poor air quality and health issues in India.  According to the Public Health Foundation of India, air pollution causes more than $36 billion of economic losses each year and about one of every six deaths in India are caused by air pollution.

Biodiesel used in heavy transportation reduces particulate emissions by more than 90% compared to petroleum diesel and creates domestic demand in India for agricultural feedstocks and waste byproducts to supply renewable fuel production facilities.  Biodiesel produced from waste feedstocks reduces carbon pollution by 50% to 80% compared to petroleum diesel, directly reducing the emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

About Aemetis

Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Aemetis is a renewable natural gas, renewable fuel and biochemicals company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative technologies that replace petroleum-based products and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Founded in 2006, Aemetis is expanding a California dairy biogas digester network and pipeline system to convert dairy waste gas into Renewable Natural Gas. Aemetis owns and operates a 65 million gallon per year ethanol production facility in California’s Central Valley near Modesto that has supplied about 80 dairies with animal feed. Aemetis also owns and operates a 50 million gallon per year production facility on the East Coast of India producing high quality distilled biodiesel and refined glycerin for customers in India and Europe.  Aemetis is developing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel fuel biorefineries in California to utilize distillers corn oil, refined tallow and other renewable oils to produce low carbon intensity renewable jet and diesel fuel using renewable hydrogen from waste orchard and forest wood, while pre-extracting cellulosic sugars from the waste wood to be processed into high value cellulosic ethanol at the Keyes plant. Aemetis holds a portfolio of patents and exclusive technology licenses to produce renewable fuels and biochemicals.  For additional information about Aemetis, please visit www.aemetis.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding assumptions, projections, expectations, targets, intentions or beliefs about future events or other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, without limitation, statements relating to the development, construction and operation of the Aemetis Universal Biofuels production facilities, expected greenhouse gas emission reductions from Aemetis projects, and our ability to finance, permit, develop and deploy technologies to produce renewable fuels and biochemicals. Words or phrases such as “anticipates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “showing signs,” “targets,” “view,” “will likely result,” “will continue” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions and predictions and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties.  Actual results or events could differ materially from those set forth or implied by such forward-looking statements and related assumptions due to certain factors, including, without limitation, competition in the ethanol, biodiesel and other industries in which we operate, commodity market risks including those that may result from current weather conditions, financial market risks, customer adoption, counter-party risks, risks associated with changes to federal policy or regulation, and other risks detailed in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and in our subsequent filings with the SEC.  We are not obligated, and do not intend, to update any of these forward-looking statements at any time unless an update is required by applicable securities laws.

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