Aemetis Plant Expands Customer Base with Sales of Biodiesel to Retail Fuel Stations in India

Plant upgrades enable production of 50 million gallons per year of biodiesel

CUPERTINO, CA and HYDERABAD, INDIA, Feb. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Aemetis, Inc. (“Aemetis” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: AMTX) announced today that its Universal Biofuels subsidiary has built distribution tanks and other infrastructure to begin sales of biodiesel to retail fuel stations from the Kakinada, India biodiesel plant.  In late 2018, the India Supreme Court issued a decision that allowed the retail sale of biodiesel in India for the first time.

“The India government biofuels policy adopted in mid-2018 seeks to offset more than 1.2 billion gallons of diesel with domestically produced biodiesel by increasing the target consumption for domestic biodiesel from less than 1% to 5%,” stated Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis. “With the recent court approval and subsequent launch of retail sales of biodiesel, our India plant continues to expand its customer base to include the government, truck fleet owners, logistics companies and now retail fuel stations.”

Retail biodiesel customers in India include agricultural uses in tractors and stationery power units, as well as diesel trucks, buses, taxis and cars.  After extensive engine testing, the India government approved the use of 100% biodiesel to replace diesel, so retail biodiesel customers in India are able to purchase a cleaner, lower cost, domestically produced, renewable biofuel to displace imported diesel.

Recently, the Aemetis plant in India completed installation of a pre-treatment unit to process lower-cost and waste feedstock into oil; expand boiler and other utility capacities; and implement environmental systems.  The upgrades enable full production of 50 million gallons per year of biodiesel and bio-oil by simultaneous operation of the biodiesel, pretreatment and glycerin refining units.

In mid-2018, the Goods & Services Tax on biodiesel was reduced from 18% to 12% to support expansion of biodiesel.  The India government also recently issued a purchase requisition for approximately 260 million gallons of biodiesel for year 2019 to be supplied by domestic India biodiesel producers. 

About Aemetis

Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Aemetis is an advanced renewable fuels and biochemicals company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative technologies that replace traditional petroleum-based products by the conversion of ethanol and biodiesel plants into advanced biorefineries.  Founded in 2006, Aemetis owns and operates a 60 million gallon per year ethanol production facility in California’s Central Valley, near Modesto.  Aemetis is building a dairy biogas digester, pipeline and gas cleanup/compression system near the California ethanol plant to produce renewable natural gas (RNG).  Aemetis also owns and operates a 50 million gallon per year renewable chemical and advanced fuel production facility on the East Coast of India producing high quality distilled biodiesel and refined glycerin for customers in India, the US and Europe.   Aemetis operates a research and development laboratory, and holds a portfolio of patents and related technology licenses for the production of 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 our 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 production or effectiveness of the India production facility, the achievement of certain cost advantages for product produced at the India facility, development of local biodiesel markets, and the continuance of governmental mandates for biodiesel. Words or phrases such as “anticipates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “showing signs,” “targets,” “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 (the “SEC”), including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, 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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