US-based petroleum giant, ExxonMobil, has signed an agreement to purchase nearly 13 million barrels of renewable diesel from Global Clean Energy Holdings (GCEH).

Here's some background:

GCEH only recently broke into the downstream production of renewable diesel. It was only a few months ago that they acquired an idled petroleum refinery in Bakersfield, California. That refinery is being retooled to process GCEH's patented variety of camelina and other bio-based feedstocks and is expected to start-up in 2021

What's the big deal?

For ExxonMobil, the agreement, "builds on [their] longstanding efforts to develop and offer products that help meet society's energy needs while reducing environmental impacts". But for GCEH, the deal guarantees that GCEH's retooled refinery will have a guaranteed place to sell nearly half of their annual production capacity.

Read the press release here.

Oilfield services company headquartered in London, Petrofac, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with clean energy holding company Storegga Geotechnologies.

What do they plan to do?

Together the companies will collaborate on the business develpoment and projects related to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Hydrogen production. They have agreed to initially focus on projects and development in the region of waters surrounding the UK and in northwest Europe.

What is the point of the MoU?

The CEO of Storegga said in a statement, "These types of partnerships are going to be crucial in the coming years. We need to get on with decarbonising now and that doesn’t allow us the luxury of time to build cumbersome, large organisations to deliver what are big projects.". While MoUs aren't legally binding, all oil & gas companies are looking to reduce their carbon emissions by deadlines that are quickly approaching. Agreements like these can accelerate the development of projects that help them reach those goals.

Read more here on EnergyVoice.

Danish chemical technology and catalysis company, Haldor Topsoe, has signed an agreement with German chemical giant, BASF, to include BASF's simulation and optimization tool inside of Haldor Topsoe's service package.

What exactly is this service?

Haldor Topsoe doesn't just sell its process technologies to chemical producers, it also offers custom software and customer service for the units it sells. For ammonia producing plants, they offer what they call ClearView™ Ammonia, which creates a digital twin of the plant in the cloud. This allows Haldor Topsoe to provide customer service for the engineers at the plant. You can watch a video about it here.

So what does BASF have to do with this?

BASF, like many chemical producers, also sells its technology and services. One of its technologies, an amine-based gas treatment process, is called OASE®. This process is often a part of the projects Haldor Topsoe does for ammonia producers. Now, the cloud service Haldor Topsoe provides can also help customers with the part of the process BASF is responsible for.

Read the press release here.