Sustainable Oils buys land in Havre, Montana, for camelina storage, rail-loading facility

Flowering camelina

Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc. subsidiary Sustainable Oils Inc. has purchased 45 acres in Havre, Montana, and will soon select a contractor to begin construction early next year of a 600,000-bushel storage and rail-loading facility for its proprietary camelina seed. Sustainable Oils has moved its headquarters from Washington state to Great Falls, Montana, and the new land acquisition and facility in Havre “further expands Sustainable Oils’ presence in Montana and creates significant logistical advantages at camelina harvest for both Sustainable Oils and its contract growers,” the company stated Nov. 19.

“Montana is the headquarters and epicenter for Sustainable Oils production in North America,” said Mike Karst, president of Sustainable Oils. “A dedicated grain facility in Havre provides regional contract growers added convenience and flexibility for delivery and storage of harvested camelina. With our adjacent proximity to the CHS Big Sky-Havre rail siding, we will be able to directly load unit trains of our grain to streamline transportation logistics to GCEH’s biorefinery in Bakersfield, California, or other extraction plants.”

Beginning in 2022, ExxonMobil has made a five-year commitment to purchase up to 220 million gallons of renewable diesel made from GCEH’s Bakersfield Renewable Fuels refinery in California. Sustainable Oils’ long-term goal is to secure contracts to grow more than 1 million acres of its camelina varieties across Montana and the region.