Aemetis Awarded the First CO2 Sequestration Characterization Well Permit Issued by the State of California

Aemetis Carbon Capture Subsidiary Achieves Full Permitting to Drill a CO2 Sequestration Characterization Well on the 24-acre Riverbank Site Acquired in 2022; Site Preparation and Access Road for Drilling Equipment Already Completed

CUPERTINO, CA, July 18, 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 Aemetis Carbon Capture subsidiary has been awarded the first CO2 sequestration characterization well permit issued by the State of California.

All of the necessary city, county, regional and state agency permits have been received to drill the CO2 sequestration characterization well on the 24-acre Riverbank site that was acquired by Aemetis in 2022.  A high capacity access road and operational pad for the deep well drilling rig and related equipment has already been completed.

The characterization well is designed to be drilled to a depth of about 8,000 feet in order to obtain the soil composition data required for the issuance of a final EPA Class VI Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) well permit. The CCS injection well is expected to sequester about 1.4 million metric tonnes per year of CO2, with approximately 200,000 metric tonnes of CO2 per year produced by the Aemetis sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel plant under development on an adjacent parcel of the 125-acre Riverbank site.

“The Aemetis project has achieved a significant milestone as the first fully permitted CO2 sequestration characterization well in California, requiring the cooperation of many state, regional and local agencies,” stated Brian Fojtasek of ATSI, the Project Manager for the Aemetis Carbon Capture CCS project at Riverbank.  “Over a twenty-year period, the Riverbank CO2 sequestration project is expected to inject and sequester about 28 million metric tonnes of CO2 captured in saline formations deep underground and protected by multiple layers of caprock.”

“We would like to express appreciation to the White House and the federal EPA in Washington DC and San Francisco for their strong support of the Aemetis project and willingness to work proactively with California agencies to review the project and issue the various permits required to drill the Riverbank CO2 characterization well,” stated Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis, Inc. “Brian is a former Exxon refining engineer and has commissioned a $10 billion refinery and a $4 billion refinery as project manager. Working together for the past five years on a variety of projects, the Aemetis and ATSI team has demonstrated an ability to timely execute on one of the most complex parts of a CCS project – well drilling permits.”

Governor Newsom stated in a letter to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on July 22, 2022: “Simply put, it will not be possible to eliminate all emissions across our economy, so achieving carbon neutrality will rely on carbon sequestration…I request that CARB set a 20 million metric tonne carbon removal target for 2030 and 100 million metric tonne carbon removal target for 2045.”

The Aemetis project at the Riverbank site is designed to contribute to carbon removal in California. According to CARB, California’s greenhouse gas emissions were 369 million metric tonnes in 2020.

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 Carbon Capture 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.

External Investor Relations
Contact:
Kirin Smith
PCG Advisory Group
(646) 863-6519
ksmith@pcgadvisory.com

Company Investor Relations/
Media Contact:
Todd Waltz
(408) 213-0940
investors@aemetis.com