Montana Renewables to fast-track SAF capacity expansion

Montana Renewables said it is expecting to complete its capacity expansion project earlier than expected at reportedly lower cost than anticipated.

Calumet, which owns and operates Montana Renewables, said in its filing that the expansion project would increase production capacity to 330 MMgy – of which 330 MMgy would be sustainable aviation fuel.

The company was awarded $1.44bn loan by the US Department of Energy in October last year.

In its first quarter earnings call, the management said it expects to achieve 150m gallons of SAF capacity by early 2026, with an initial capital expenditure of $20m to $30m.

“Our grand project calls for 300m gallons of SAF capacity to be reached, and there’s no change to that. We previously spoke about our expectation to bring 150m of those gallons online in late 2026 for a capital cost of $150m to $250m. Our operations team has rapidly advanced our understanding of the potential of our assets and our SAF production technology,” said Todd Bergman, chief executive officer at Calumet.

“As a result, our project expectations, which were already promising, have improved markedly. Rather than needing to wait on our Gulf Coast reactor to be shipped across the country and stood up with other new build assets, we can enhance our existing MRL reactor and some other supporting assets already in Montana to bring on 120m to 150m gallons of SAF in early 2026 for $20m to $30m of capital.”

Bergman further added that given the predominantly catalyst work and configuration of existing assets, the smaller capital would primarily be back after 2025 and early 2026. This improvement will increase SAF yields from its current 2,000 barrels a day to an 8,000 to 10,000 barrel a day range, and we also expect a minor increase in total renewable throughput.

The company expects to start selling 50m gallons of SAF from summer this year.