Wyoming oil refinery eyes renewable diesel production

Starwood Energy Group Global Inc. and Slate Refining LLC have entered into an agreement to convert Slate’s Douglas, Wyoming, refinery into a biorefinery producing renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Sinclair Oil, which recently announced it is being acquired by HollyFrontier, has been producing renewable diesel in Wyoming through a subsidiary, Wyoming Renewable Diesel Co., since early 2018.

The Slate refinery is located on more than 30 acres in the Powder River Basin with a current refining capacity of 5,000 barrels per day, or more than 76 million gallons per year (mgy) if run 24/7. The company’s website says the conversion to renewables will allow up to 9,000 barrels per day of production, or nearly 138 mgy if run continuously. An Aug. 17 press release by Starwood Energy Group Global simply stated that the conversion will allow the production of more than 100 mgy.

According to Slate Refining’s website, the complex has operated historically to make ultra-low sulfur diesel, low-sulfur diesel and naphtha, but the company has most recently used the site as a terminal where products are brought in, offloaded, stored, and then onloaded and resold to local buyers.

“The Douglas facility is ideally positioned to provide renewable fuels to serve both the U.S. and Canadian markets to help off-takers meet their renewable fuel goals,” said Himanshu Saxena, CEO of Starwood Energy. “The energy sector is undergoing rapid transition with emphasis on ESG and decarbonization and Starwood Energy is proud to be at the forefront of these changes."

Jared Geilmann, CEO of Slate Refining, said, "We are confident that the combination of our teams’ extensive operating experience and development expertise will result in a highly successful project. We believe that this partnership will provide the framework to bring together all of the necessary resources, talent, creativity and experience to repurpose and operate a top-tier renewable fuels facility.”

Starwood Energy Group is a private equity investment firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut, specializing in energy infrastructure investments.