💥New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc.💥
On April 16, 2025, Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc. ($GCEHQ) and 14 affiliates (collectively, the “debtors” and together with their four non-debtor affiliates, the “company”) filed chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the Southern District of Texas (Judge Perez).* Here’s what that all looks like:
The company is a “vertically integrated renewable energy company” that makes “fuel that can be used as a 100% replacement for conventional petroleum-based fuels and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 85%.” Its main end-stage product is renewable diesel (“RD”), which is a “100% replacement for conventional diesel,” and it conducts its business through 3 business segments — if you’re familiar with the oil & gas (“O&G”) industry, they need no introduction.
The company’s upstream business segment consists of cultivating Camelina sativa, “a versatile ultra-low carbon oilseed used as feedstock for the production of renewable diesel” and Johnny’s second favorite type of sativa. It grows Camelina through partnerships with local farmers across North America, Europe, and South America, increasing its footprint from 65k acres in ‘23 to “over” 124k in ‘24. To stick with the O&G analogy, Camelina is the company’s crude for all intents and purposes, so it needs and uses heaps and heaps of the stuff.
The company’s midstream business segment connects the upstream business to the downstream business, but instead of oil pipelines and storage tanks, we’ve got trucks and trains and grain elevators. The company’s midstream counterparties, “blue-chip logistics and transportation providers” like Louis Dreyfus Company and Vitol Americas Corp. (“Vitol”), process its feedstock into unrefined oils and store and transport them to the company’s downstream business. In addition, Vitol supplies the company with feedstock through a separate supply and offtake agreement (the “SOA”) as the company continues to expand its upstream capabilities.