Aemetis Inc (AMTX) 2021 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Aemetis Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Review Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Todd Waltz, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Aemetis, Inc. Mr. Waltz, you may begin.

歡迎參加 Aemetis 2021 年第三季度收益審查電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，正在錄製此會議。現在我很高興向您介紹主持人，Aemetis, Inc. 執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Todd Waltz 先生。Waltz 先生，您可以開始了。

Thank you, Paul. Welcome to the Aemetis third quarter 2021 earnings review conference call. Joining us today for the call is Eric McAfee, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis, and Andy Foster, President of Aemetis Advanced Fuels and Aemetis Biogas. We suggest visiting our website at aemetis.com to review today's earnings press release, the Aemetis corporate and investor presentations, filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, recent press releases, and previous earnings conference calls. The presentation for today's call is available for review or download on the Investors section of the aemetis.com website.

謝謝你，保羅。歡迎參加 Aemetis 2021 年第三季度收益審查電話會議。 Aemetis 創始人、董事長兼首席執行官 Eric McAfee 和 Aemetis Advanced Fuels 和 Aemetis Biogas 總裁 Andy Foster 今天加入我們的電話會議。我們建議訪問我們的網站 aemetis.com，查看今天的收益新聞稿、Aemetis 公司和投資者介紹、向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件、最近的新聞稿和之前的收益電話會議。可在 aemetis.com 網站的“投資者”部分查看或下載今天電話會議的演示文稿。

Before we begin our discussion today, I'd like to read the following disclaimer statement. During today's call, we'll be making forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements with respect to our future stock performance, plans, opportunities, and expectations with respect to financing activities and the execution of our business plan. These statements must be considered in conjunction with the disclosures and cautionary warnings that appear in our SEC filings. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements made on this call involve risks and uncertainties, and that future events may differ materially from the statements made. For additional information, please refer to the company's Securities and Exchange Commission's filings which are posted on our website and are available from the company without charge.

在我們開始今天的討論之前，我想閱讀以下免責聲明。在今天的電話會議中，我們將做出前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於關於我們未來股票表現、計劃、機會以及對融資活動和我們業務計劃執行的預期的陳述。這些聲明必須與我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中出現的披露和警告一起考慮。請投資者註意，在本次電話會議上做出的所有前瞻性陳述都涉及風險和不確定性，未來事件可能與所作陳述存在重大差異。有關更多信息，請參閱我們網站上發布的公司證券交易委員會文件，這些文件可從公司免費獲取。

Our discussion on the call today will include a review of non-GAAP measures as a supplement to financial results based on GAAP. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is included in our earnings release for the quarter ended on September 30, 2021, which is available on our website. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income or loss plus to the extent deducted in calculating such net income, interest expense, gain on extinguishment, income tax expense, intangible, and other amortization expense, accretion and other expense of Series A preferred units, depreciation expense, and share-based compensation expense.

我們今天在電話會議上的討論將包括審查非 GAAP 措施，作為對基於 GAAP 的財務結果的補充。我們截至 2021 年 9 月 30 日的季度收益發布中包含非 GAAP 指標與最直接可比的 GAAP 指標的對賬，可在我們的網站上獲取。調整後的 EBITDA 被定義為淨收入或損失加上在計算此類淨收入、利息費用、清算收益、所得稅費用、無形資產和其他攤銷費用、A 系列優先單位的增值和其他費用、折舊費用時扣除的部分，以及基於股份的補償費用。

Now I'd like to review the financial results for the third quarter 2021. Revenues during the third quarter 2021 were $49.9 million compared to $40.9 million for the third quarter of 2020. Our North America operation in the third quarter of 2021 as compared to the third quarter of 2020, experienced an increase in the selling price of ethanol, from $1.59 per gallon to $2.84 per gallon. But also saw an increase in the delivered corn price from an average of $4.92 per bushel during the third quarter 2020 to $7.99 per bushel during the third quarter 2021. Gross loss for the third quarter 2021 was $4.8 million compared to a gross income of $771,000 during the third quarter 2020. Gross margin was negatively impacted by the establishment of a reserve of $5.3 million for California emission compliant credits for the Keyes plant in September.

現在我想回顧一下 2021 年第三季度的財務結果。2021 年第三季度的收入為 4990 萬美元，而 2020 年第三季度為 4090 萬美元。我們 2021 年第三季度的北美業務與2020 年第三季度，乙醇的售價從每加侖 1.59 美元上漲到每加侖 2.84 美元。但也看到交付的玉米價格從 2020 年第三季度的平均每蒲式耳 4.92 美元上漲到 2021 年第三季度的每蒲式耳 7.99 美元。2021 年第三季度的毛虧損為 480 萬美元，而同期的總收入為 771,000 美元2020 年第三季度。毛利率受到 9 月份為 Keyes 工廠的加州排放合規信貸建立 530 萬美元儲備金的負面影響。

Selling, general, and administrative expense were $5.1 million during the third quarter 2021 compared to $4.6 million during the third quarter of 2020 as a result of period expenses, specifically, personnel and insurance incurred as part of the development of our low-carbon and negative carbon intensity initiatives. Operating loss was $9.9 million for the third quarter of 2021 compared to an operating loss of $3.8 million for the third quarter of 2020, principally driven by the establishment of reserve of $5.3 million for California emission compliance credits related to our ethanol plant operations. Interest expense during the third quarter of 2021 was $5.5 million, excluding accretion and other expense in connection with Series A preferred units in our Aemetis Biogas LLC subsidiary compared to $6.5 million during the third quarter 2020.

2021 年第三季度的銷售、一般和管理費用為 510 萬美元，而 2020 年第三季度為 460 萬美元，這是由於期間費用，特別是在我們的低碳和負面發展過程中產生的人員和保險費用碳強度倡議。 2021 年第三季度的運營虧損為 990 萬美元，而 2020 年第三季度的運營虧損為 380 萬美元，這主要是由於為與我們的乙醇工廠運營相關的加州排放合規信用建立了 530 萬美元的儲備金。 2021 年第三季度的利息支出為 550 萬美元，不包括與我們 Aemetis Biogas LLC 子公司的 A 系列優先單位相關的增值和其他費用，而 2020 年第三季度為 650 萬美元。

Additionally, our Aemetis Biogas subsidiary recognized $2.2 million of accretion and other expenses in connection with preference payments on its preferred stock during the third quarter of 2021 compared to $1.8 million during the third quarter of 2020. Net loss was $17.6 million for the third quarter of 2021 compared to a net loss of $12.2 million for the third quarter of 2020. After adjusting for the establishment of a $5.3 million compliance reserve, net loss would have been $12.2 million or $0.39 per share. Cash at the end of the third quarter of 2021 increased to $6.4 million compared to $592,000 at the end of 2020. Capital expenditures increased property, plant, and equipment by $18.8 million, driven by investment in our low carbon and negative carbon intensity initiatives. Company debt decreased by $44.6 million by the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to December 31, 2020. As we entered into the fourth quarter, ethanol pricing has rebound strongly with current pricing at $3.50 per gallon in today's market. While at the same time, the average delivered cost of corn has decreased to about $7.50 per bushel. These market changes indicate a healthy fourth quarter for our traditional fuels business, while our construction teams continue to move forward with the engineering construction of the low carbon projects.

此外，我們的 Aemetis Biogas 子公司在 2021 年第三季度確認了與其優先股優先付款相關的 220 萬美元增值和其他費用，而 2020 年第三季度為 180 萬美元。第三季度淨虧損為 1760 萬美元2021 年淨虧損為 1220 萬美元，而 2020 年第三季度淨虧損為 1220 萬美元。在調整建立 530 萬美元的合規準備金後，淨虧損為 1220 萬美元或每股 0.39 美元。與 2020 年底的 592,000 美元相比，2021 年第三季度末的現金增加到 640 萬美元。資本支出使物業、廠房和設備增加了 1880 萬美元，這得益於我們對低碳和負碳強度計劃的投資。與 2020 年 12 月 31 日相比，到 2021 年第三季度末公司債務減少了 4460 萬美元。隨著我們進入第四季度，乙醇價格強勁反彈，當前市場價格為每加侖 3.50 美元。與此同時，玉米的平均交付成本已降至每蒲式耳 7.50 美元左右。這些市場變化表明我們的傳統燃料業務在第四季度表現良好，而我們的施工團隊繼續推進低碳項目的工程施工。

That completes our financial review of the third quarter of 2021. Now, I'd like to introduce the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Aemetis, Eric McAfee, for a business update. Eric?

我們對 2021 年第三季度的財務審查到此結束。現在，我想介紹 Aemetis 的創始人、董事長兼首席執行官 Eric McAfee，了解業務更新。埃里克？

Thank you, Todd. Aemetis is focused on producing below zero carbon intensity products, including the production of negative carbon intensity renewable natural gas and renewable fuels. Our projects maximize the value of carbon credits under the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard, the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, IRS 45Q carbon sequestration tax credits, and blender's tax credits, while reducing operating costs by using waste materials as feedstock. In early 2021, we announced a 5-year plan to grow to more than $1 billion of revenue and $325 million of annual cash flow. We are on track with the 5-year plan. This year, we have paid $63 million on the higher interest rate bridge loans from Third Eye Capital. We're also on track with financing growth using long term 20-year, low interest rate project financing from the USDA, Department of Energy and municipal bond markets. Importantly, our third-quarter earnings are on track with the 5-year plan. After adjusting for the establishment of a onetime $5.3 million reserve for California emission credits, related to the Keyes ethanol plant, our net loss would have been $12.2 million for the third quarter, which is a negative $0.39 per share, which is in line with our growth plan.

謝謝你，托德。 Aemetis 專注於生產低於零碳強度的產品，包括生產負碳強度的可再生天然氣和可再生燃料。我們的項目根據加州低碳燃料標準、聯邦可再生燃料標準、IRS 45Q 碳封存稅收抵免和攪拌機稅收抵免最大限度地發揮碳信用的價值，同時通過使用廢料作為原料降低運營成本。 2021 年初，我們宣布了一項 5 年計劃，將收入增長到超過 10 億美元，年現金流量達到 3.25 億美元。我們正按計劃執行 5 年計劃。今年，我們已經從 Third Eye Capital 支付了 6300 萬美元的高利率過橋貸款。我們還通過使用來自美國農業部、能源部和市政債券市場的 20 年期長期低利率項目融資實現融資增長。重要的是，我們第三季度的收益符合 5 年計劃。在針對與 Keyes 乙醇工廠相關的加州排放信用額度一次性建立 530 萬美元儲備進行調整後，我們第三季度的淨虧損為 1220 萬美元，每股虧損 0.39 美元，符合我們的預期成長計劃。

The positive regulatory trends for renewable fuels have continued to improve by the passage of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act last week. This legislation supports all of Aemetis' low carbon renewable fuels businesses in both the U.S. and in India, in various ways. First, the USDA and Department of Energy loan programs have received billions of dollars of expanded funding to provide 20 year, 6% to 8% low interest rate, government guaranteed or direct loans. Aemetis is working closely with these organizations to provide funding for the 52-dairy biogas digester and pipeline project, the sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel plant, and the carbon sequestration project that is under development. Second, the biodiesel and renewable diesel products to be produced at the Riverbank Carbon Zero plant will benefit from the 5-year extension of the $1 per gallon tax credit, instead of requiring Congress to act annually. This adds greater stability and predictability as we proceed with our project to produce renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. Third, in addition, the sustainable aviation fuel produced by the Riverbank plant will generate up to a $1.75 per gallon tax credit. Fourth, the carbon sequestration projects will receive $85 per metric tons of federal tax credit up from $60 per tons, but the tax credits are expected to be paid in cash each year under the direct pay structure. With our planned 2 million metric tons per year of CO2 injection, the direct pay program could provide $170 million per year of funding to the Aemetis carbon capture and sequestration project, directly transferred from the federal government. During the third quarter of 2021, Aemetis achieved important milestones toward revenue growth and sustained profitability in each of our 4 lines of business.

隨著聯邦基礎設施投資和就業法案上週的通過，可再生燃料的積極監管趨勢繼續得到改善。該立法以各種方式支持 Aemetis 在美國和印度的所有低碳可再生燃料業務。首先，美國農業部和能源部貸款計劃已獲得數十億美元的擴大資金，以提供 20 年、6% 至 8% 的低利率、政府擔保或直接貸款。 Aemetis 正與這些組織密切合作，為 52 乳沼氣池和管道項目、可持續航空燃料和可再生柴油工廠以及正在開發的碳封存項目提供資金。其次，將在 Riverbank 零碳工廠生產的生物柴油和可再生柴油產品將受益於每加侖 1 美元的稅收抵免延長 5 年，而不是要求國會每年採取行動。隨著我們繼續進行生產可再生柴油和可持續航空燃料的項目，這增加了更大的穩定性和可預測性。第三，此外，Riverbank 工廠生產的可持續航空燃料將產生高達每加侖 1.75 美元的稅收抵免。第四，碳封存項目將從每噸 60 美元獲得每公噸 85 美元的聯邦稅收抵免，但稅收抵免預計將在直接支付結構下每年以現金支付。根據我們計劃每年註入 200 萬噸二氧化碳，直接支付計劃每年可以為 Aemetis 碳捕獲和封存項目提供 1.7 億美元的資金，直接從聯邦政府轉移。 2021 年第三季度，Aemetis 在我們 4 個業務線的收入增長和持續盈利方面取得了重要里程碑。

Now, Andy Foster, the President of the Aemetis Biogas and Aemetis Advanced Fuels businesses, will review highlights of our renewable natural gas and ethanol businesses. Andy?

現在，Aemetis Biogas 和 Aemetis Advanced Fuels 業務總裁 Andy Foster 將回顧我們可再生天然氣和乙醇業務的亮點。安迪？

Thanks, Eric. As Eric mentioned, we are focused on producing below 0 carbon intensity products, including the production of negative carbon intensity, renewable natural gas, and renewable fuels. A prime example is our dairy-based Renewable Natural Gas business, which recently marked the 1-year anniversary of commercial production in September. RNG is a negative carbon renewable fuel that perfectly exemplifies the circular bioeconomy that Eric often refers to when describing our approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions while producing sustainable below zero carbon transportation fuels.

謝謝，埃里克。正如 Eric 提到的，我們專注於生產低於 0 碳強度的產品，包括生產負碳強度、可再生天然氣和可再生燃料。一個典型的例子是我們以乳製品為基礎的可再生天然氣業務，該業務最近在 9 月迎來了商業生產一周年。 RNG 是一種負碳可再生燃料，完美體現了 Eric 在描述我們減少溫室氣體排放同時生產可持續的零碳以下運輸燃料的方法時經常提到的循環生物經濟。

Let me take a moment to update you on some key milestones achieved as we build out our network of dairy digesters and the supporting infrastructure that will deliver RNG to the California market. In September 2020, we completed Phase 1 of the Aemetis Biogas Central Dairy Digester Project and commenced operation of the first 2 covered lagoon digesters, including on-site dairy biogas cleanup and pressurization of 4 mile pipeline owned by Aemetis and a boiler unit used to -- boiler unit to utilize the biogas as processed energy at the Keyes plant, which allows us to monetize the LCFS credits through a lower CI score for the ethanol produced. During Q1 2021, the California Air Resources Board issued an updated carbon intensity fuel pathway for the Keyes ethanol plant, utilizing a negative 426 CI score for our biogas compared to approximately a positive 100 carbon intensity for petroleum natural gas.

讓我花點時間向您介紹在我們建立乳製品消化器網絡和將 RNG 輸送到加利福尼亞市場的支持基礎設施時取得的一些關鍵里程碑。 2020 年 9 月，我們完成了 Aemetis 沼氣中央乳品沼氣池項目的第一階段，並開始運營前兩個帶頂棚的潟湖沼氣池，包括現場乳品沼氣淨化和 Aemetis 擁有的 4 英里管道加壓以及用於 - - 鍋爐裝置利用沼氣作為 Keyes 工廠的加工能源，這使我們能夠通過生產乙醇的較低 CI 評分將 LCFS 信用貨幣化。 2021 年第一季度，加州空氣資源委員會為 Keyes 乙醇工廠發布了更新的碳強度燃料途徑，我們的沼氣使用負 426 CI 評分，而石油天然氣的碳強度約為正 100。

In addition to the 2 dairy digesters and 4 miles of gas pipeline currently in operation, we are now building Phase 2 of the biogas project, including the main biogas cleanup facility, the utility pipeline interconnection unit, and RNG fueling station at the Keyes plant, and an additional 15 dairy digesters, and 32 miles of biogas pipeline. Each of these project's components are on schedule for completion of Phase 2 in the third quarter of next year. We have now signed agreements with 22 dairies to install digesters. We are in advanced discussions with 5 more dairies representing approximately 10,000 cows that we expect to sign in the current quarter and have more than a dozen additional dairies in -- under discussion. As the pipeline and digesters are built, we're also receiving inquiries from other local dairies in the area who would like to participate in the Aemetis Biogas Project.

除了目前正在運行的 2 個乳製品消化池和 4 英里的天然氣管道外，我們現在正在建設沼氣項目的第 2 階段，包括主要的沼氣淨化設施、公用事業管道互連裝置和 Keyes 工廠的 RNG 加氣站，以及另外 15 個乳製品消化池和 32 英里的沼氣管道。這些項目的每個組成部分都按計劃在明年第三季度完成第二階段。我們現在已經與 22 家奶牛場簽署了安裝沼氣池的協議。我們正在與代表大約 10,000 頭奶牛的另外 5 家奶牛場進行深入討論，我們預計將在本季度簽署這些奶牛場，並且還有十多家奶牛場正在討論中。隨著管道和沼氣池的建成，我們還收到了該地區其他希望參與 Aemetis 沼氣項目的當地奶牛場的詢問。

This week, Pacific Gas & Electric achieved mechanical completion of the gas interconnection unit that connects the Aemetis biogas cleanup facility to the PG&E natural gas pipeline. We expect the interconnection system to be fully installed by Thanksgiving with commissioning to be completed in January 2022 when the Aemetis biogas upgrading facility becomes operational. During the third quarter, we began construction of the main biogas upgrading facility located at Keyes ethanol plant, to convert dairy biogas into renewable natural gas. The foundations have been completed. The major equipment has been placed, the roof structure and fire prevention systems have all been completed, and now electrical systems and calibration equipment are being installed. The biogas upgrading facility is scheduled to be completed in January 2022.

本週，Pacific Gas & Electric 實現了將 Aemetis 沼氣淨化設施連接到 PG&E 天然氣管道的氣體互連裝置的機械完工。我們預計互連繫統將在感恩節前全面安裝，並在 2022 年 1 月 Aemetis 沼氣升級設施投入運營時完成調試。第三季度，我們開始建設位於 Keyes 乙醇廠的主要沼氣升級設施，將乳製品沼氣轉化為可再生天然氣。地基已經完成。主要設備已就位，屋面結構和防火系統已全部完成，目前正在安裝電氣系統和校准設備。沼氣提質設施計劃於 2022 年 1 月完工。

During the third quarter, Aemetis was granted an encroachment permit to use the right-of-way in local county roads for construction of the 22 -- 21-mile Stanislaus County segment of our pressurized biogas pipeline. 5 additional digester projects are now permitted and construction is underway with expected completion of these 5 digesters and related pipeline in the first half of 2022. To connect the next 5 dairies to our existing biogas pipeline, the installation of 6.5 miles of the 7 miles required for the new biogas pipeline will be completed, weather permitting in the next few weeks. Excavation of 2 of the next 5 dairy digesters has been completed, and the remaining 3 digesters will be under construction in the next 2 weeks. The next 5 dairy digester biogas cleanup skids, which are fully modularized, will be delivered next week for installation at the 5 dairies currently under construction.

在第三季度，Aemetis 獲得了一項侵占許可證，可以使用當地縣道的通行權來建設我們加壓沼氣管道的 22-21 英里斯坦尼斯勞斯縣段。現在允許另外 5 個沼氣池項目，並且正在建設中，預計這 5 個沼氣池和相關管道將於 2022 年上半年完工。要將接下來的 5 個奶牛場連接到我們現有的沼氣管道，需要安裝 7 英里中的 6.5 英里如果天氣允許，新的沼氣管道將在未來幾週內完工。接下來的 5 個乳製品消化池中的 2 個已完成開挖，其餘 3 個消化池將在未來 2 週內開工建設。接下來的 5 個完全模塊化的乳品消化池沼氣淨化裝置將於下週交付，用於安裝在目前正在建設中的 5 個乳品廠。

A USDA guaranteed loan under the Renewable Energy for America Program, known as REAP, is nearing completion for a $50 million financing for dairy digesters, gas cleanup, and pipeline construction, at about a 6% interest rate to be repaid over 20 years. The term sheet was signed with the bank in May of 2021 and closing is expected by the end of this quarter, subject of course to delays associated with upcoming holidays. An additional $50 million USDA REAP financing is in process for closing in Q2 of 2022, with another $50 million expected to close in Q4 of 2022 on the same terms.

美國可再生能源計劃（稱為 REAP）下的美國農業部擔保貸款即將完成，用於乳製品消化器、氣體清理和管道建設的 5000 萬美元融資，利率約為 6%，將在 20 年內償還。條款清單于 2021 年 5 月與該銀行簽署，預計將在本季度末完成交割，當然會因即將到來的假期而延遲。另有 5000 萬美元的 USDA REAP 融資正在處理中，將於 2022 年第二季度完成，另外 5000 萬美元預計將在 2022 年第四季度以相同條件完成。

Overall, the second half of 2021 has been a highly productive period for advancing the construction of the Aemetis dairy renewable gas project and we continue to sign up additional dairies to further expand our digester network. We've made some key new hires on our biogas team, including an experienced senior dairy digester Operations Manager, who recently managed to 10 dairy biogas digesters in California Central Valley and a Construction Supervisor with extensive civil engineering and construction project management experience. Our Pipeline Construction Manager, a 30-year industry veteran, who supervised the installation of our Phase 1 pipeline while working for our lead contractor, has instituted a number of best management practices that have resulted in cost savings and scheduled acceleration.

總體而言，2021 年下半年是推進 Aemetis 乳業可再生氣體項目建設的高產時期，我們將繼續簽約更多乳業，以進一步擴大我們的沼氣池網絡。我們在沼氣團隊中招聘了一些重要的新員工，包括一名經驗豐富的高級乳製品沼氣池運營經理，他最近管理著加州中央山谷的 10 個乳製品沼氣池，以及一名具有豐富土木工程和建築項目管理經驗的施工主管。我們的管道施工經理是一位擁有 30 年行業經驗的資深人士，他在為我們的主要承包商工作時監督我們第一階段管道的安裝，已經制定了一些最佳管理實踐，從而節省了成本並按計劃加速。

The Aemetis RNG team is in contract review with a number of expected RNG offtake partners and we expect to begin announcing these agreements by the end of the current quarter. To date, Aemetis has been awarded approximately $23 million worth of grants from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the California Energy Commission, PG&E's energy efficiency program, and other government agencies for the dairy biogas project and the production of renewable natural gas. The RNG initiative has many natural synergies with our Keyes ethanol plant, which uses agricultural feedstock that absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere during plant growth, from which our production facility produces ethanol and high-value animal feed. The Aemetis ethanol plant produces approximately 65 million gallons per year of renewable ethanol, but also produces about 2 million pounds per day of wet distiller's grains that supply about 80 local dairies to feed more than 100,000 cows. Those cows eat the renewable feedstock produced by Aemetis and create waste, which in turn produces the methane we capture for the production of RNG. Trucks involved in our ethanol animal feed, sustainable aviation fuel, renewable fuels, and carbon sequestration businesses will be able to be fueled by our RNG at compressed natural gas fueling stations and locations throughout California or at our on-site RNG fueling station at the Keyes plant.

Aemetis RNG 團隊正在與許多預期的 RNG 承購合作夥伴進行合同審查，我們預計將在本季度末開始宣布這些協議。迄今為止，Aemetis 已從加州食品和農業部、加州能源委員會、PG&E 的能源效率計劃和其他政府機構獲得價值約 2300 萬美元的贈款，用於乳製品沼氣項目和可再生天然氣的生產。 RNG 計劃與我們的 Keyes 乙醇工廠有許多天然的協同作用，該工廠使用在植物生長過程中從大氣中吸收二氧化碳的農業原料，我們的生產設施從中生產乙醇和高價值動物飼料。 Aemetis 乙醇廠每年生產約 6500 萬加侖可再生乙醇，但每天還生產約 200 萬磅濕酒糟，供應當地約 80 家奶牛場，餵養超過 100,000 頭奶牛。這些奶牛食用 Aemetis 生產的可再生原料並產生廢物，而廢物又產生我們為生產 RNG 而捕獲的甲烷。參與我們的乙醇動物飼料、可持續航空燃料、可再生燃料和碳封存業務的卡車將能夠在壓縮天然氣加油站和遍布加利福尼亞州的地點或在我們位於凱斯的現場 RNG 加油站使用我們的 RNG 提供燃料植物。

Let's take a moment to discuss our California ethanol plant. As Todd mentioned earlier, we saw a 50% year-over-year increase in revenues from ethanol sales in the third quarter compared to last year. Since the economy began to reopen in the first half of 2021, demand for ethanol has been robust and ethanol margins have improved significantly in the current quarter. High corn prices reduced profitability in the third quarter, with a tighter corn supply and ongoing logistical issues with the railroads. An increase in the price of ethanol from about $2.50 per gallon to today's $3.50 per gallon in California has significantly improved margins, while margins were also positively impacted by a decrease in the delivered price of corn over the past few months for more than $9 per bushel this past summer to today's $7.50 per bushel.

讓我們花點時間討論一下我們在加州的乙醇工廠。正如托德之前提到的，我們看到第三季度乙醇銷售收入與去年同期相比增長了 50%。自 2021 年上半年經濟開始重新開放以來，對乙醇的需求一直強勁，本季度乙醇利潤率顯著提高。高玉米價格降低了第三季度的盈利能力，玉米供應趨緊以及鐵路的持續物流問題。加利福尼亞的乙醇價格從每加侖 2.50 美元左右上漲到現在的每加侖 3.50 美元，利潤率顯著提高，而過去幾個月玉米交付價格下跌超過 9 美元/蒲式耳也對利潤率產生了積極影響從去年夏天到今天的每蒲式耳 7.50 美元。

While U.S. domestic gasoline demand has been favorable at approximately 95% of 2019 levels, U.S. ethanol exports have lagged for the first 3 quarters of 2021. Ethanol imports, especially to California from Brazil, were especially persistent in the third quarter of 2021 due to higher fuel prices -- higher prices received by Brazil ethanol producers as a result of California's low carbon fuel standard. Strong demand and favorable pricing for both wet distiller's grains and distiller's corn oil remained bright spots in the overall product mix, and we expect that to continue.

儘管美國國內汽油需求一直保持在 2019 年水平的 95% 左右，但美國乙醇出口在 2021 年前三個季度一直滯後。乙醇進口，尤其是從巴西進口到加利福尼亞的乙醇，在 2021 年第三季度尤其持續，原因是更高的燃料價格——由於加州的低碳燃料標準，巴西乙醇生產商收到的價格更高。濕酒糟和玉米油的強勁需求和優惠價格仍然是整體產品組合中的亮點，我們預計這種情況將持續下去。

Let me just take a few moments to provide an update on the projects that are expected to increase cash flow by approximately $23 million when the projects are fully completed. The Keyes ethanol plant is operating at full capacity of about 65 million gallons per year, taking advantage of strong ethanol distiller's corn oil, and distiller's grain pricing. The ethanol plant is completely sold out of wet distiller's grain with more than 2.2 million pounds per day being delivered to dairies using about 45 truckloads per day. We're delivering more than 30,000 gallons per week of distiller's corn oil at favorable prices, driven by the use of non-edible corn oil in biodiesel and renewable diesel production as well as poultry feed. The Keyes plant produces approximately 400 metric ton per day of CO2 which is being upgraded, compressed, and delivered to local food processors by Messer, which generates about $4.5 million per year of tax credits at $30 per metric ton under the current law.

讓我花點時間介紹一下項目的最新情況，這些項目預計在項目完全完成後將增加約 2300 萬美元的現金流。 Keyes 乙醇工廠以每年約 6500 萬加侖的滿負荷運轉，充分利用乙醇蒸餾玉米油和酒糟定價的優勢。乙醇工廠的濕酒糟已完全售罄，每天使用約 45 輛卡車將超過 220 萬磅的酒運送到奶牛場。在生物柴油和可再生柴油生產以及家禽飼料中使用非食用玉米油的推動下，我們每週以優惠的價格提供超過 30,000 加侖的玉米酒糟油。 Keyes 工廠每天產生大約 400 公噸二氧化碳，梅塞爾正在對其進行升級、壓縮並交付給當地的食品加工商，根據現行法律，每公噸 30 美元，每年可產生約 450 萬美元的稅收抵免。

The Mitsubishi ZEBREX unit which separates ethanol and water has been fully installed, test runs have been completed, and the system has been meeting or exceeding the key system design milestones. The goal of significantly reducing steam consumption in the plant has been demonstrated in stable operations with the reduction from 21,000 pounds of steam per hour to less than 5,000 pounds of steam per hour. Since steam is currently mostly produced from carbon-intensive, expensive petroleum and natural gas, this 75% reduction in steam use for ethanol dehydration reduces our operating costs and increases our revenues through lower carbon intensity ethanol. Additional optimization is currently underway and we expect to commission the ZEBREX system during Q1 of 2022. Additionally, we expect to sign an EPC contract with SunPower for the installation of a $12 million solar array with battery backup and microgrid by the end of this month. Detailed engineering is already underway, permitting is in process. Our power interconnection agreement with the utility district is being arranged and equipment procurement is expected to begin in December. The solar unit is designed to generate approximately 1.5 megawatts of zero-carbon intensity electric power at low cost, especially considering the $8 million California Energy Commission grant that funds 2/3 of the total project cost.

分離乙醇和水的三菱ZEBREX裝置已全部安裝完畢，已完成試運行，系統已達到或超過關鍵系統設計里程碑。顯著降低工廠蒸汽消耗的目標已在穩定運行中得到證明，從每小時 21,000 磅蒸汽減少到每小時不到 5,000 磅蒸汽。由於蒸汽目前主要由碳密集型、昂貴的石油和天然氣生產，乙醇脫水所用蒸汽減少 75% 可降低我們的運營成本，並通過降低碳強度乙醇來增加我們的收入。目前正在進行額外的優化，我們預計將在 2022 年第一季度調試 ZEBREX 系統。此外，我們預計將與 SunPower 簽署 EPC 合同，在本月底之前安裝價值 1200 萬美元的太陽能電池陣列，配備備用電池和微電網。詳細的工程已經在進行中，許可正在處理中。我們與公用事業區的電力互聯協議正在安排中，設備採購預計將於 12 月開始。該太陽能裝置旨在以低成本產生約 1.5 兆瓦的零碳強度電力，特別是考慮到加州能源委員會撥款 800 萬美元，該撥款佔項目總成本的 2/3。

Finally, the mechanical vapor recompression system to further reduce our petroleum natural gas and steam use is moving forward with detailed negotiations underway for engineering, procurement, and construction. When completed, these upgrades to the Keyes ethanol plant are designed to significantly reduce or even potentially eliminate petroleum natural gas use at the Aemetis ethanol plant. We also expect to reduce or eliminate our steam-driven turbine cogeneration system saving up to $14 million per year of natural gas and utility pipe transmission costs. Our California biorefinery is being upgraded to primarily operate using high efficiency electric motors and pumps powered by zero carbon intensity renewable power sources, including our solar array and local hydroelectric power.

最後，進一步減少我們的石油天然氣和蒸汽使用的機械蒸汽再壓縮系統正在推進，正在進行工程、採購和施工的詳細談判。完成後，Keyes 乙醇工廠的這些升級旨在顯著減少甚至可能消除 Aemetis 乙醇工廠的石油天然氣使用。我們還希望減少或取消我們的蒸汽驅動渦輪熱電聯產系統，每年節省高達 1400 萬美元的天然氣和公用事業管道傳輸成本。我們的加州生物精煉廠正在升級，主要使用由零碳強度可再生能源（包括我們的太陽能電池陣列和當地水力發電）提供動力的高效電動機和泵來運營。

In summary, operational performance and project milestones for the Aemetis biogas and ethanol plant businesses are on track with the 5-year plan. Eric?

總之，Aemetis 沼氣和乙醇工廠業務的運營績效和項目里程碑符合 5 年計劃。埃里克？

Thank you, Andy. Thank you all for all the excellent work that your team is doing. Let's discuss our carbon zero renewable jet and diesel fuel project using negative carbon intensity hydrogen from waste orchard wood in Riverbank, California. We're pleased that the Aemetis carbon zero biorefinery under development of Riverbank near Modesto continues to achieve major milestones. Recently, we announced a $1 billion sales agreement with Delta Airlines to supply 250 million gallons of blended, sustainable aviation fuel over 10 years at the rate of 25 million gallons per year. Known as blended SAF, the contract provides for 10 million gallons of neat, unblended SAF combined with 15 million gallons of petroleum jet fuel each year.

謝謝你，安迪。感謝你們團隊所做的所有出色工作。讓我們討論一下我們的零碳可再生噴氣和柴油燃料項目，該項目使用來自加利福尼亞州河岸市果園廢棄木材的負碳強度氫氣。我們很高興在莫德斯托附近的 Riverbank 開發的 Aemetis 零碳生物精煉廠繼續取得重大里程碑。最近，我們宣布與達美航空公司達成 10 億美元的銷售協議，以每年 2500 萬加侖的速度在 10 年內供應 2.5 億加侖混合可持續航空燃料。該合同被稱為混合 SAF，每年提供 1000 萬加侖純淨、未混合的 SAF 和 1500 萬加侖石油噴氣燃料。

Under the Delta Airlines agreement, the neat SAF will be trucked from the Riverbank production plant to a tank farm in the Bay Area for blending with jet fuel. The blended SAF will be delivered via pipeline to San Francisco Airport for use by Delta Airlines. We are in final contract review for additional aviation fuel agreements with other major airlines, including foreign airlines, that service the San Francisco and Los Angeles airports. We expect to announce about $3.5 billion of additional aviation fuel sales agreements starting later this month and continuing through the second quarter of 2022.

根據達美航空公司的協議，純淨的 SAF 將從 Riverbank 生產廠用卡車運到灣區的一個油庫，與噴氣燃料混合。混合後的 SAF 將通過管道輸送到舊金山機場，供達美航空公司使用。我們正在對與其他主要航空公司（包括為舊金山和洛杉磯機場提供服務的外國航空公司）簽訂的額外航空燃料協議進行最終合同審查。我們預計將宣布從本月晚些時候開始並持續到 2022 年第二季度的約 35 億美元的額外航空燃料銷售協議。

In addition to major U.S. and international airlines, we have received a high level of interest from leading private jet FBOs due to corporate jet owner interest in Sustainable Aviation Fuel. For example, FBO chains with California locations have requested us to truck blended sustainable aviation fuel to Aspen and Vail airports for use by corporate and private jets in addition to California locations. In addition to the $4.5 billion of blended sustainable aviation fuel sales agreements that we have signed or expect to sign in the next few months, we are in final contract review for a $3 billion renewable diesel sales agreement to deliver 45 million gallons per year under a 10-year sales contract with a major truck stop chain for its California locations. The construction of the renewable jet and diesel plant is moving forward steadily.

除了主要的美國和國際航空公司外，由於公務機所有者對可持續航空燃料的興趣，我們還收到了領先的私人飛機 FBO 的高度關注。例如，在加利福尼亞州設有分支機構的 FBO 連鎖店要求我們用卡車將混合的可持續航空燃料運到阿斯彭和韋爾機場，供除加利福尼亞州分支機構外的公務機和私人飛機使用。除了我們已經簽署或預計在未來幾個月簽署的價值 45 億美元的混合可持續航空燃料銷售協議外，我們還在對一項價值 30 億美元的可再生柴油銷售協議進行最終合同審查，該協議每年交付 4500 萬加侖與一家主要卡車停靠站連鎖店簽訂了 10 年的銷售合同，用於其位於加利福尼亞州的地點。可再生噴氣柴油廠建設穩步推進。

We're currently in the engineering phase to support the closing of the $125 million of 20-year USDA debt financing that has already been signed with the USDA. And an additional $100 million of USDA renewable energy for America funding that has been reviewed with the USDA. We announced that the $2 billion global EPC contractors CTCI, has begun engineering work to support completion of the permits, and the EPC agreement. CTCI is currently constructing a 225 million gallon renewable diesel plant in Bakersfield, California, just south of our location, with plant completion in mid '22 -- 2022, I'm sorry and is ideally suited to construct the Aemetis plant quickly and efficiently.

我們目前正處於工程階段，以支持結束已與美國農業部簽署的 1.25 億美元 20 年期美國農業部債務融資。另有 1 億美元的美國農業部可再生能源資金已與美國農業部一起審核。我們宣布，價值 20 億美元的全球 EPC 承包商 CTCI 已開始工程工作，以支持完成許可證和 EPC 協議。 CTCI 目前正在加利福尼亞州貝克斯菲爾德建造一座 2.25 億加侖的可再生柴油廠，就在我們所在地的南部，工廠將於 22 世紀中旬 - 2022 年完工，很抱歉，非常適合快速高效地建造 Aemetis 工廠。

The Aemetis 5-year plan announced that Phase 1 of the Riverbank jet diesel plant is designed to produce 45 million gallons per year of renewable jet and diesel fuel, generating more than 230 million of annual revenue and more than $65 million per year of positive cash flow. We plan to expand production in phase 2 of plant construction to 90 million gallons per year at the Riverbank site by year 2025, as part of our 5-year plan to generate approximately $460 million of revenues, and $130 million of annual positive cash flow from renewable jet and diesel production. However, the 5-year plan that we announced in Q1 2021 did not include the value of the $1 per gallon federal tax credit due to the uncertainty of the incentive.

Aemetis 5 年計劃宣布，Riverbank 噴氣柴油廠的第一階段設計為每年生產 4500 萬加侖可再生噴氣燃料和柴油，產生超過 2.3 億的年收入和每年超過 6500 萬美元的正現金流動。我們計劃到 2025 年將 Riverbank 工廠第二階段的產量擴大到每年 9000 萬加侖，這是我們的 5 年計劃的一部分，該計劃旨在產生約 4.6 億美元的收入和 1.3 億美元的年度正現金流可再生噴氣和柴油生產。但是，由於激勵措施的不確定性，我們在 2021 年第一季度宣布的 5 年計劃並未包括每加侖 1 美元的聯邦稅收抵免額。

The recent passage of the Infrastructure Act has provided stability in the incentive. So, we expect to add the $1 per gallon for 45 million gallons per year renewable diesel and a $1.75 per gallon for 45 million gallons per year of sustainable aviation fuel to our updated 5-year plan that we expect to release in Q1 2022. The Riverbank plant is designed to use waste orchard wood and other waste biomass such as dead forest wood to produce cellulosic hydrogen, using zero carbon intensity hydroelectric power and vegetable and other renewable oils to produce sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel fuel. Combined with carbon sequestration at the Riverbank site, we expect a negative 10 carbon intensity for our aviation fuel and renewable diesel.

最近通過的《基礎設施法》為激勵措施提供了穩定性。因此，我們希望將每年 4500 萬加侖可再生柴油每加侖 1 美元，每年 4500 萬加侖可持續航空燃料每加侖 1.75 美元添加到我們預計在 2022 年第一季度發布的更新後的 5 年計劃中。 Riverbank 工廠旨在利用廢棄的果園木材和其他廢棄生物質（例如枯木）生產纖維素氫，利用零碳強度水力發電和植物油以及其他可再生油生產可持續航空燃料和可再生柴油。結合 Riverbank 站點的碳封存，我們預計我們的航空燃料和可再生柴油的碳強度為負 10。

Let's review our new subsidiary, Aemetis Carbon Capture. In October 2020, the Aemetis plant in California was identified in a study issued by the California -- I'm sorry, the Stanford University Center for Carbon Capture as 1 of 3 ethanol plant CO2 sources in California that have the highest potential return on investment from building a carbon capture and sequestration facility compared to oil refineries, cement plants, and natural gas power plants that comprise the 61 largest CO2 emission sources in California. Our ethanol plant already captures about a 150,000 metric tons per year of CO2 and already compresses the CO2 in the Messer liquification plant into transportable liquid carbon dioxide from which we already generate IRS 45Q tax credits worth $30 per metric ton from CO2 reuse. Current operations generate up to $4.5 million per year of tax credits for Aemetis.

讓我們回顧一下我們的新子公司 Aemetis Carbon Capture。 2020 年 10 月，加利福尼亞州發布的一項研究確定了加利福尼亞州的 Aemetis 工廠——對不起，斯坦福大學碳捕獲中心是加利福尼亞州 3 個乙醇工廠 CO2 來源中具有最高潛在投資回報的來源之一與構成加州 61 個最大二氧化碳排放源的煉油廠、水泥廠和天然氣發電廠相比，建造碳捕獲和封存設施的成本更低。我們的乙醇工廠每年已經捕獲了大約 150,000 公噸的二氧化碳，並且已經將梅塞爾液化工廠中的二氧化碳壓縮成可運輸的液態二氧化碳，我們已經從中產生了 IRS 45Q 稅收抵免，每公噸二氧化碳再利用價值 30 美元。目前的運營每年為 Aemetis 帶來高達 450 萬美元的稅收抵免。

We selected Baker Hughes as the drilling vendor for the carbon sequestration project. A $20 billion market value Company operating in more than 120 countries, Baker Hughes was originally founded in the west side of the Central Valley, California, about 100 years ago. And the company is very familiar with the formations in the former inland ocean that formed the Central Valley. The carbon sequestration study prepared by Baker Hughes determined that the Aemetis Keyes plant and the Riverbank plant site are located above at 7,000 foot deep strata, known as a caprock and an 8,000 foot deep strata known as a basement rock. Between the 2 layers is the saline formation that was cited by Stanford University as ideal for carbon dioxide sequestration.

我們選擇貝克休斯作為碳封存項目的鑽探供應商。 Baker Hughes 是一家市值 200 億美元的公司，業務遍及 120 多個國家/地區，大約 100 年前最初成立於加利福尼亞州中央山谷的西側。該公司對形成中央谷地的前內陸海域的地層非常熟悉。貝克休斯準備的碳封存研究確定，Aemetis Keyes 工廠和 Riverbank 工廠位於 7,000 英尺深的地層（稱為蓋層）和 8,000 英尺深的地層（稱為基岩）上方。兩層之間是鹽鹼地層，斯坦福大學稱其為二氧化碳封存的理想選擇。

Over a long period of time, the CO2 reacts with saline to form a mineral that is permanently sequestered underground and does not return to the atmosphere. We expanded the team managing the Aemetis Carbon Capture subsidiary by adding Mehagan Hopkins as Manager of Regulatory and Compliance to lead the EPA Class 6 CO2 injection well permitting process as well as to manage other permitting and regulatory opportunities related to the Riverbank site and our jet diesel plant development process. In addition to Central California permitting experience for industrial and commercial projects, Mehagan worked at Chevron for 10 years and recently managed Chevron's global waste remediation.

在很長一段時間內，二氧化碳與鹽水發生反應，形成一種永久隔離在地下並且不會返回大氣層的礦物質。我們擴大了管理 Aemetis 碳捕集子公司的團隊，任命 Mehagan Hopkins 為監管和合規經理，領導 EPA 6 級二氧化碳注入井許可流程，並管理與 Riverbank 場地和我們的噴氣柴油相關的其他許可和監管機會植物發育過程。除了加州中部工業和商業項目的許可經驗外，Mehagan 還在雪佛龍工作了 10 年，最近管理雪佛龍的全球廢物修復。

In Phase 1 of the Aemetis Carbon Capture Project, we plan to inject up to 400,000 metric tons per year of CO2 emissions from our own biogas, ethanol and jet diesel plants into 2 sequestration wells, which we plan to drill in our 2 biofuels plant sites in California. We are expecting to construct 2 CO2 injection wells that each have a minimum of 1 million metric tons per year of injection capacity. With additional CO2 in addition to our own, supplied by oil refineries and other sources to inject a total of 2 million metric tons per year of CO2. The initial phase of construction includes drilling 2 characterizations wells, to provide empirical data for the EPA Class 6 permit. The injection wells will then be drilled at the same site after receiving EPA and other permits. We're currently in the engineering and permitting process for the 2 characterization wells, with an expectation that we can drill the first characterization well in the first quarter of next year.

在 Aemetis 碳捕集項目的第一階段，我們計劃將我們自己的沼氣、乙醇和噴氣柴油工廠每年排放的 CO2 注入多達 400,000 公噸的 2 個封存井，我們計劃在我們的 2 個生物燃料工廠現場鑽探這些井在加利福尼亞。我們預計將建造 2 口 CO2 注入井，每口井的年註入能力至少為 100 萬噸。除了我們自己提供的額外 CO2，由煉油廠和其他來源提供，每年共注入 200 萬噸 CO2。施工的初始階段包括鑽探 2 口特徵井，為 EPA 6 級許可證提供經驗數據。在獲得 EPA 和其他許可後，注入井將在同一地點鑽探。我們目前正在進行 2 口特徵井的工程和許可流程，預計我們可以在明年第一季度鑽出第一口特徵井。

Let's review our biodiesel business in India. Our universal biofuel subsidiary in India, bid on a portion of $900 million biodiesel purchase tender offer for about 225 million gallons by the 3 India government oil marketing companies. Due to increased feedstock prices, the OMC bidding process in 2021 has not resulted in pricing that has been accepted by biodiesel producers. The bidding process continues with a higher price of crude oil resulting in higher prices for diesel in India and increasing the bid prices offered by the India marketing companies. However, a major approval is in process in India for our distilled biodiesel production plant. We are expecting to receive an approval to export biodiesel, opening the export market, which has been previously prohibited under the India National Biofuels Policy.

讓我們回顧一下我們在印度的生物柴油業務。我們在印度的通用生物燃料子公司競標了 3 家印度政府石油營銷公司對約 2.25 億加侖的 9 億美元生物柴油採購招標的一部分。由於原料價格上漲，2021 年的 OMC 招標過程並未導致生物柴油生產商接受的定價。招標過程繼續進行，原油價格上漲導致印度柴油價格上漲，並提高了印度營銷公司提供的投標價格。但是，我們的蒸餾生物柴油生產廠正在印度獲得重大批准。我們期待獲得出口生物柴油的批准，打開出口市場，這在印度國家生物燃料政策之前是被禁止的。

The price of biodiesel in California is significantly higher than India. And our Riverbank facility is well-positioned to manage product re-heating and transloading for local truck delivery in California. Since our Indian subsidiary has no debt and is fully constructed and commissioned, we are well positioned for a rapid revenue increase as we expand biodiesel exports. We do expect large government purchases of renewable biodiesel to occur to meet climate change and air quality goals, once the current COVID crisis facing India begins to subside, and India government procurement activities for biodiesel are expanded.

加州的生物柴油價格明顯高於印度。我們的 Riverbank 設施處於有利地位，可以管理產品重新加熱和轉運，以便在加利福尼亞州進行當地卡車運輸。由於我們的印度子公司沒有債務並且已經完全建設和調試，因此我們有能力在擴大生物柴油出口的同時快速增加收入。一旦印度當前面臨的 COVID 危機開始消退，並且印度政府對生物柴油的採購活動擴大，我們確實預計政府會大量採購可再生生物柴油，以實現氣候變化和空氣質量目標。

Let's finish with a brief review of an important innovation, which is in the commercialization process from the Aemetis technology development group. Millions of acres of wildfires each year and other adverse impacts of climate change, continue to create significant losses of property and life, causing alternative uses of waste wood to become a focus of government policy and funding. Headed by Dr. Goutham Vemuri as our Vice President of Technology Development, working with our laboratory staff in Minnesota and at the Keyes ethanol plant in California, the Aemetis technology development team worked with the federally funded, Joint BioEnergy Institute in Berkeley California for more than 3 years in the development of a patented process to extract sugars from low-cost waste, orchard and forest wood feedstocks.

最後，讓我們簡要回顧一下 Aemetis 技術開發團隊正在商業化過程中的一項重要創新。每年數百萬英畝的野火和氣候變化的其他不利影響繼續造成重大的財產和生命損失，導致廢木材的替代用途成為政府政策和資金的重點。在擔任技術開發副總裁的 Goutham Vemuri 博士的領導下，Aemetis 技術開發團隊與我們在明尼蘇達州和加利福尼亞州 Keyes 乙醇工廠的實驗室工作人員合作，與聯邦政府資助的加利福尼亞州伯克利聯合生物能源研究所合作超過3 年開發從低成本廢物、果園和森林木材原料中提取糖的專利工藝。

We now hold exclusive licenses to 2 issued patents that protect the sugar extraction technology for use with waste biomass and with wood from non-commercial forests. By extracting negative carbon intensity C6 and C5 sugars from waste wood, we plan to reduce the amount of cornstarch used in our ethanol production process by using negative carbon intensity sugars from waste wood to produce cellulosic ethanol. Every 10% of our feedstock for ethanol production that is obtained from waste wood sugars instead of cornstarch is expected to generate about $30 million per year of increased EBITDA from the Keyes ethanol plant. The remaining lignin and non-converted sugars are designed to be the feedstock for our gas fire unit at the Riverbank jet and diesel plant to produce carbon negative cellulosic hydrogen for the hydro treatment of vegetable and other oils to produce sustainable aviation and diesel fuels.

我們現在擁有 2 項已發布專利的獨家許可，這些專利保護用於廢生物質和來自非商業森林的木材的糖提取技術。通過從廢木材中提取負碳強度 C6 和 C5 糖，我們計劃通過使用廢木材中的負碳強度糖生產纖維素乙醇來減少乙醇生產過程中使用的玉米澱粉量。我們每 10% 的乙醇生產原料是從廢木糖而不是玉米澱粉中獲得的，預計每年將從 Keyes 乙醇工廠產生約 3000 萬美元的 EBITDA 增加。剩餘的木質素和未轉化的糖被設計為我們在 Riverbank 噴氣和柴油廠的燃氣燃燒裝置的原料，以生產碳負纖維素氫，用於植物油和其他油的加氫處理，以生產可持續的航空和柴油燃料。

A $3 million -- I'm sorry, a $3 million California Energy Commission grant was awarded to JBEI and Aemetis, which partially funded the years of collaborative work and lab testing that led to the granted patents. Recently, Aemetis was awarded a $250,000 U.S. Forest Service grant to further develop the sugar extraction technology by extracting sugars from locally sourced orchard and forest waste wood. We expect commercial operations to pre-extract cellulosic sugars from waste wood when the Riverbank renewable jet and diesel plant becomes operational.

300 萬美元——對不起，加州能源委員會向 JBEI 和 Aemetis 提供了 300 萬美元的撥款，這部分資助了多年的合作工作和實驗室測試，這些工作和實驗室測試導致獲得了專利。最近，Aemetis 獲得了 250,000 美元的美國林務局撥款，用於通過從當地採購的果園和森林廢木中提取糖分來進一步開發糖分提取技術。我們預計，當 Riverbank 可再生噴氣和柴油工廠投入運營時，商業運營將從廢木材中預提取纖維素糖。

In summary, strongly supported by the Infrastructure Act, Aemetis is expanding a diversified portfolio of negative carbon intensity projects from dairy, renewable natural gas, and low carbon ethanol to renewable jet and diesel fuel to waste wood sugars to produce ethanol and carbon sequestration of CO2. All of these projects are highly synergistic and create a circular bioeconomy in which we use byproducts and waste materials as feedstock to produce low and negative carbon intensity renewable fuels. Our company's values include a long-term commitment to building value for shareholders. The empowerment and respect for our employees and business partners, and making significant and positive contributions to the communities we serve.

總之，在《基礎設施法》的大力支持下，Aemetis 正在擴大多元化的負碳強度項目組合，從乳製品、可再生天然氣和低碳乙醇到可再生噴氣燃料和柴油，再到廢木糖生產乙醇和二氧化碳封存.所有這些項目都具有高度協同作用，並創造了循環生物經濟，在這種循環生物經濟中，我們使用副產品和廢料作為原料來生產低碳強度和負碳強度的可再生燃料。我們公司的價值觀包括長期致力於為股東創造價值。賦予我們的員工和業務合作夥伴權力和尊重，並為我們所服務的社區做出重大和積極的貢獻。

Now, let's take a few questions from our call participants. Paul?

現在，讓我們聽聽電話會議參與者的幾個問題。保羅？

(Operator Instructions) The first question is coming from Manav Gupta from Credit Suisse.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自瑞士信貸的 Manav Gupta。

Eric and team, congrats on the Delta deal and all the other positive developments that are happening, $3.5 billion in contract negotiations. My first and quick clarification here, Eric and Todd and it is -- your 2025 guidance doesn't have BTC. And when we look at what was being proposed and build back better, and you mentioned it, it's about $1 BTC for RD and 1.75 for SAF. And most likely, you will completely qualify for it till 2031. Very simply adding those numbers in your guidance means your EBITDA jumps by about $123 million, that's a 38% increase. And because BTC is not taxable at all, your net income jumps by 55%. Now are those numbers making sense? Does the math adds up? Basically, I'm just taking and adding BTC to your existing guidance I guess if you could walk us through that maths a little bit.

埃里克和團隊，祝賀達美交易和所有其他正在發生的積極發展，合同談判價值 35 億美元。埃里克和托德，我在這裡做的第一個也是快速的澄清是——你們的 2025 年指南沒有比特幣。當我們查看提議的內容並更好地重建時，您提到了它，RD 的 BTC 約為 1 美元，SAF 的 BTC 約為 1.75 美元。最有可能的是，到 2031 年，您將完全有資格獲得它。非常簡單地在您的指導中添加這些數字意味著您的 EBITDA 躍升了約 1.23 億美元，增幅為 38%。而且因為 BTC 根本不需要納稅，所以你的淨收入增加了 55%。現在這些數字有意義嗎？數學加起來了嗎？基本上，我只是將 BTC 添加到您現有的指南中，我想您是否可以引導我們稍微了解一下這些數學知識。

Thank you, Manav, and thank you for pulling out the calculator and doing the math, but you're exactly correct. It's 45 million gallons times a dollar that's our renewable diesel business and then 45 million gallons times $1.75. And those effectively are $123 million of additional tax credits that we receive. And largely, it comes to us as basically just additional profit because, as you know, our costs don't change at all. The reason why we did not include that in our first quarter 5-year plan was because we thought it was very unstable policy with every year Congress kind of running to the end of the year and sometimes past the end of the year before they would pass the tax credits. And we thought it would not be supportive of the execution of our 5-year plan to increase that cash -- increase our cash flow by including it.

謝謝你，Manav，也謝謝你拿出計算器算了算，但你完全正確。我們的可再生柴油業務是 4500 萬加侖乘以 1 美元，然後是 4500 萬加侖乘以 1.75 美元。這些實際上是我們收到的 1.23 億美元的額外稅收抵免。在很大程度上，它對我們來說基本上只是額外的利潤，因為如你所知，我們的成本根本沒有變化。我們之所以沒有將其包含在我們的第一季度 5 年計劃中，是因為我們認為這是非常不穩定的政策，每年國會都會拖到年底，有時甚至過了年底才通過稅收抵免。我們認為這不會支持我們增加現金的 5 年計劃的執行 - 通過包括它來增加我們的現金流量。

What has come to pass is, frankly, what we expected, which is that aviation fuel requires a larger tax credit in order to overcome some of the lower yields and higher capital costs that occur in the production of sustainable aviation fuel. We selected a technology from Axens in France that is a native aviation fuel. So we actually designed our plant with the intention of producing 50% aviation fuel. Most of the other producers, renewable diesel do not have renewable aviation fuel capacity. If they wanted to upgrade their plant, they have to build essentially a separate facility and take a bit of a yield hit doing that. So our focus on what we believe to be the necessary role of low carbon in our case, carbon negative renewable fuels and aviation was a good strategy and has paid out, I think, better than we expected. And we intend in the first quarter to include that in our updated 5-year plan.

坦率地說，已經發生的事情符合我們的預期，即航空燃料需要更大的稅收抵免，以克服可持續航空燃料生產中出現的一些較低的收益率和較高的資本成本。我們選擇了法國 Axens 的一項技術，它是一種原生航空燃料。所以我們實際上設計我們的工廠是為了生產 50% 的航空燃料。大多數其他生產商，可再生柴油不具備可再生航空燃料的能力。如果他們想升級他們的工廠，他們基本上必須建造一個單獨的設施，並且這樣做會降低產量。因此，我們將重點放在我們認為低碳在我們的案例中的必要作用上，即負碳可再生燃料和航空是一個很好的戰略，而且我認為，它的回報比我們預期的要好。我們打算在第一季度將其納入我們更新的 5 年計劃。

Okay. Eric, second and very quick follow-up here is you do speak to a lot of people at Carb and, as we understand, you speak to the higher-level people. There is this peer case being floated that as these projects come on, LCF price will come under a lot of pressure and CARB will just sit on the sidelines and let the LCFS price crash. Is that the feeling you get when you talk to these people, or there is more developed feeling over there that they actually want to lower the carbon intensity of fuels, and they would try and help companies like yours who are actually making a difference here. And in the process, whatever they have to do, they have to do, but they'll try and be supportive of a minimum kind of carbon price and not let it drip to something like 80 or 70, where project economics comes under pressure. So if you could just talk about that.

好的。埃里克，第二個也是非常快速的跟進是你確實和 Carb 的很多人談過，而且據我們了解，你和更高級別的人談過。有這樣一個同行案例，隨著這些項目的進行，LCF 價格將承受很大壓力，而 CARB 將袖手旁觀，讓 LCFS 價格暴跌。這是你與這些人交談時的感覺，還是那裡有更深的感覺，他們實際上想要降低燃料的碳強度，他們會嘗試幫助像你這樣的公司，他們實際上在這裡有所作為。在這個過程中，無論他們必須做什麼，他們都必須做，但他們會努力支持最低碳價，而不是讓它下降到 80 或 70 之類的水平，這樣項目經濟就會面臨壓力。所以，如果你能談談這個。

Absolutely. For those who've been in California operating active production units, February of 2019 was an interesting month because the California Resources Board met and decided to change the number of carbon credits required for the next 12 years all the way until 2030. They just in one meeting decided that the price of the LCFS credits was not high enough to support projects. And so, they changed the rules and made it 1.25% every single year. And that, of course, caused the price of the credits to rise from about $120 to $200. And as you may know, in the original negotiations roughly 10 years ago, $200 plus the cost of living index increase every year was set up as an informal price limit. And so, we hit almost $220 within about a year or so after they had taken this action.

絕對地。對於那些一直在加州運營活躍生產單位的人來說，2019 年 2 月是一個有趣的月份，因為加州資源委員會開會並決定改變未來 12 年所需的碳信用額度，一直到 2030 年。他們只是在一次會議決定 LCFS 信用的價格不足以支持項目。因此，他們改變了規則，將其設為每年 1.25%。當然，這導致積分的價格從大約 120 美元上漲到 200 美元。你可能知道，在大約 10 年前的最初談判中，200 美元加上每年增加的生活成本指數被設定為非正式價格限制。因此，在他們採取這一行動後大約一年左右的時間裡，我們的股價幾乎達到了 220 美元。

And what occurred then was they held public hearings saying that they wanted to talk about putting more credits in the marketplace, giving them the electric utilities, for example, to make charging stations as a pure tool to tell the markets that they're not going to let the price go to $300 or $500 and cause the program to fail. We're now at the final phase of this, where we think that the California Resources Board is absolutely committed to taking whatever necessary steps are needed to try to target a $200 kind of price and $200-plus cost of living index would not be too far to ask them to go. So they are very concerned that their actions would not support what Aemetis is doing and are working closely with us to take necessary steps over the next year to give us the LCFS credit value necessary to fund our projects.

然後發生的事情是他們舉行了公開聽證會，說他們想討論在市場上投入更多的信貸，給他們電力公司，例如，讓充電站成為一個純粹的工具來告訴市場他們不會去讓價格達到 300 美元或 500 美元並導致程序失敗。我們現在處於最後階段，我們認為加州資源委員會絕對致力於採取任何必要的步驟來嘗試將價格定為 200 美元，而 200 美元以上的生活成本指數不會太高遠去請他們去。因此，他們非常擔心他們的行為不會支持 Aemetis 正在做的事情，並且正在與我們密切合作，在明年採取必要措施，為我們提供資助我們項目所需的 LCFS 信用值。

The next question is coming from Nate Pendleton from Stifel.

下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Nate Pendleton。

For my first question, regarding dairy RNG, could you provide an update on where your operations stand relative to your initial plan from both a build-out and a sign-up perspective?

對於我的第一個問題，關於乳製品 RNG，您能否從擴建和註冊的角度提供有關您的運營相對於您的初始計劃的最新情況？

Andy?

安迪？

Yes. So we've been fully operating our first 2 dairies for a year now, and they are meeting or exceeding expectations from a production perspective. As far as additional dairies, we have 22 dairies that we are -- have under contract right now. We have 5 additional dairies that we expect to close by the end of this year. And then there's about 12-or-so that we are in active discussions with. So I think we're feeling like we're right on track with our goals in terms of the overall scope of the project.

是的。因此，我們已經全面運營前 2 家奶牛場一年了，從生產的角度來看，它們達到或超過了預期。至於額外的奶牛場，我們有 22 家奶牛場——現在有合同。我們還有 5 家奶牛場預計將在今年年底前關閉。然後大約有 12 個左右的人正在與我們積極討論。因此，我認為就項目的總體範圍而言，我們感覺我們正朝著我們的目標邁進。

Great. For my follow-up, regarding CCS, could you speak to how Aemetis is differentiated from a geologic perspective compared to others in the Central Valley? And how you're able to qualify for IRS 45Q credits, given the CO2 capture thresholds are quite high and serve as a barrier for other smaller potential operations?

偉大的。對於我的後續行動，關於 CCS，您能否談談 Aemetis 從地質角度與中央山谷的其他公司相比有何不同？考慮到 CO2 捕獲閾值相當高並且成為其他較小的潛在運營的障礙，您如何才能有資格獲得 IRS 45Q 信用？

One of the big advantages we have is we have our own CO2. And so the minimum thresholds we exceed with what we're already producing from our own facilities, which is a helpful component for us. The Central Valley California has very extensive natural gas and oil production, especially as you get down Bakersfield, but frankly, if you go north of us much, you get a lot of natural gas fields. And carbon sequestration requires sequestration, which means that if you have a natural gas field with a lot of holes in your caprock, when you put an injection of liquid CO2 at very high pressure more than 2,000 psi, below that shale layer, you actually have holes that allow that liquid CO2 to turn into a gas to come back up. So it's not really effective if you go to a place that has a lot of natural gas or oil production and you're using those formations for sequestration because you have to buy every single well within probably 5 miles of your facility and go in and spend up to $0.5 million per well capping the well.

我們擁有的一大優勢是我們擁有自己的二氧化碳。因此，我們超過了我們已經從我們自己的設施生產的產品的最低門檻，這對我們來說是一個有用的組成部分。加利福尼亞中央山谷擁有非常廣泛的天然氣和石油生產，尤其是當你沿著貝克斯菲爾德下山時，但坦率地說，如果你往我們北邊走，你會得到很多天然氣田。碳封存需要封存，這意味著如果你的天然氣田在你的蓋層中有很多孔，當你在超過 2,000 psi 的非常高的壓力下注入液態 CO2，在頁岩層下方，你實際上有允許液態 CO2 轉化為氣體重新上浮的孔。所以如果你去一個有大量天然氣或石油生產的地方並且你正在使用這些地層進行封存，這並不是真正有效的，因為你必須購買距離你的設施大約 5 英里以內的每一口井，然後進去花錢每口井最高 50 萬美元。

So it's a very difficult business proposition to have to go and buy every single well in an area. And that restricts the number of areas that really are appropriate. You have to have the correct underground formation. You don't really want a population of people on the surface. You need to be in really a rural or cultural area. You cannot be up against the mountains because your slope is too much, so your CO2 doesn't sequesters actually just goes up with slope. So you start looking at where the footprint is of putting these wells and you end up with kind of some spots that work and a lot of spots that don't work in Central Valley. And so we've spent a lot of time with Baker Hughes and our other partners in this. And I think we've identified certainly the 2 locations we have. Stanford was correct, these were excellent locations, but in that area around us, we potentially could do with additional wells and have certainly a first-mover advantage.

因此，必須去購買一個地區的每一口井，這是一個非常困難的商業提議。這限制了真正合適的區域數量。你必須有正確的地下陣型。你真的不想要地表上的人口。你需要真正在農村或文化區。你不能靠山，因為你的坡度太大了，所以你的二氧化碳實際上並沒有封存，只是隨著坡度上升。所以你開始研究這些井的足跡在哪裡，你最終會在中央山谷找到一些有用的地方和很多不起作用的地方。因此，我們在這方面與貝克休斯和我們的其他合作夥伴花了很多時間。而且我認為我們肯定已經確定了我們擁有的 2 個位置。斯坦福是正確的，這些都是絕佳的位置，但在我們周圍的那個地區，我們有可能使用更多的油井，並且肯定具有先發優勢。

And the next question is coming from Jordan Levy from Truist Securities.

下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Jordan Levy。

I wanted to start with a question on RiverBank and specifically, Eric, if you could talk us through how you view the unit economics there and maybe more so, why you view this as the right combination of technologies to deploy? And the reason I ask this is given some of the recent buzz around things like alcohol-to-jet or ethanol to Jet. Maybe you can talk through how you view the economic comparison between the gasification for hydrogen and hydro treatment veg oils and other oils for renewable diesel or SAF versus some of the other technologies out there?

我想從一個關於 RiverBank 的問題開始，具體來說，埃里克，如果你能告訴我們你如何看待那裡的單位經濟效益，也許更多，為什麼你認為這是部署的正確技術組合？我之所以問這個問題，是因為最近有一些關於酒精到噴氣機或乙醇到噴氣機的嗡嗡聲。也許你可以談談你如何看待氫氣化和加氫處理植物油與可再生柴油或 SAF 的其他油與其他一些技術之間的經濟比較？

Okay. I'll give you a really short answer. There are basically 2 jet production technologies are being popularized today. One is alcohol the jet and the other one is what I would call oils to jet. And the current production of renewable diesel worldwide is virtually all oils to jet, and it's a highly profitable business. You just look at Neste, you look at Valero and REGI in the U.S. And it's very publicly known that the margins are $2.50 to $3.28 per gallon because that's what they reported last quarter. And that's taking a renewable oil, grown by a plant usually in the field and increasing its energy by adding hydrogen to it, typically the hydrogen is petroleum natural gas comes out of the ground, and it's about a carbon intensity out a positive 150 under the pathways of proven California and then use electricity, and most electricity usually is coal because that's the cheapest energy source in Asia and most of the Midwest.

好的。我會給你一個非常簡短的答案。今天基本上有兩種射流生產技術正在普及。一種是噴射酒精，另一種是我所說的噴射油。目前全球生產的可再生柴油幾乎都是噴氣機油，這是一項利潤豐厚的業務。你看看 Neste，看看美國的 Valero 和 REGI，眾所周知，每加侖的利潤在 2.50 美元到 3.28 美元之間，因為這是他們上個季度報告的數據。這是一種可再生石油，通常由植物在田間種植，並通過向其中添加氫來增加其能量，通常氫是從地下開采出來的石油天然氣，它的碳強度大約為正 150經過驗證的加利福尼亞路徑然後使用電力，大多數電力通常是煤炭，因為這是亞洲和中西部大部分地區最便宜的能源。

So what we did is we looked at it and said, "Well, that's interesting. We're the largest distiller's corn oil producer in California, so we've got a part of our feedstock." We happen to have a 100% 0 carbon intensity hydroelectric power comes off of a dam. So we have 0 CI electricity instead of petroleum natural gas electricity or coal electricity. And we also happen to have, what I call the Saudi Arabia of carbon negative wood waste. The almonds in the Central Valley California are renewable source of wood waste that is currently being burned or sits in the field and turns into methane. So it has a negative 100 carbon intensity. And by turning that wood waste into hydrogen, we end up with approximately negative 80 hydrogen input. So we looked at the existing formula of the most profitable companies in the biofuels business in renewable diesel and derivatively in sustainable aviation deal.

所以我們所做的就是看著它說，“嗯，這很有趣。我們是加利福尼亞州最大的蒸餾玉米油生產商，所以我們有一部分原料。”我們碰巧有一個 100% 0 碳強度的水力發電來自大壩。所以我們有 0 CI 電力而不是石油天然氣電力或煤炭電力。我們也碰巧擁有我稱之為碳負木材廢料的沙特阿拉伯。加利福尼亞中央山谷的杏仁是木材廢料的可再生來源，目前正在燃燒或留在田間並轉化為甲烷。所以它的碳強度為負 100。通過將木材廢料轉化為氫氣，我們最終得到大約負 80 的氫氣輸入。因此，我們研究了可再生柴油生物燃料業務和可持續航空交易衍生產品中最賺錢公司的現有公式。

And we just said, let's just improve on the carbon intensity of those inputs because we're sitting in the middle of these tremendous feedstock to make cellulose hydrogen and et cetera. So obviously, we think if the margins are as strong for those folks using those carbon-intensive inputs and shipping into California, we think we have a sustainable, let's call it, competitive advantage by having lower cost and lower carbon inputs and therefore, far more valuable output. Alcohol to jet interestingly is also one of our businesses. We don't talk about it, but we happen to be the largest ethanol producer in California. And as soon as the economics work well for alcohol to jet, we are as close with the companies that are in that business as anybody. And I think we're very well positioned to take full advantage of optimizing the value of our ethanol that optimal value is to turn into jet fuel, you can imagine you're going to hear about that from us. Currently, we are enjoying very, very positive support for our ethanol business in California. And especially with the recovery in LCFS prices, which we expect next year through actions by CARB, I think we're going to continue to enjoy good margins in the ethanol business and be well positioned to do an upgrade to alcohol to jet, if and when that opportunity is necessary.

我們剛剛說過，讓我們提高這些投入的碳強度，因為我們正坐在這些巨大的原料中間來製造纖維素氫等。很明顯，我們認為，如果那些使用這些碳密集型投入品並運往加利福尼亞的人的利潤率一樣高，我們認為我們擁有可持續的競爭優勢，我們可以通過降低成本和低碳投入量來獲得競爭優勢，因此，遠更有價值的輸出。有趣的是，酒精也是我們的業務之一。我們不談論它，但我們恰好是加利福尼亞州最大的乙醇生產商。一旦經濟適用於酒精噴射，我們就會像任何人一樣與從事該業務的公司保持密切聯繫。而且我認為我們完全有能力充分利用優化我們乙醇的價值，最佳價值是轉化為噴氣燃料，你可以想像你會從我們這裡聽到這一點。目前，我們在加利福尼亞州的乙醇業務得到了非常非常積極的支持。尤其是隨著 LCFS 價格的回升，我們預計明年將通過 CARB 的行動實現復甦，我認為我們將繼續在乙醇業務中享有良好的利潤率，並做好準備將酒精升級為噴氣式飛機，如果並且當那個機會是必要的。

That's great. Maybe just a follow-up, more specific to your biodiesel business. I wanted to see if you could just talk to us if there's been any change at all in how you're thinking about the India biodiesel facility and how it fits into your 5-year plan? And also, any potential means you see to bring forward revenues out of that plant near term as you wait to see what happens with government purchases and that sort of thing.

那太棒了。也許只是跟進，更具體地針對您的生物柴油業務。我想看看您是否可以與我們談談您對印度生物柴油設施的看法以及它如何適應您的 5 年計劃是否有任何變化？而且，任何潛力都意味著您會在等待政府採購和類似事情發生時看到短期內從該工廠帶來收入。

Yes. Our India biodiesel plant as operating instead of an on-off switch, the differential between feedstock and government purchase prices, if you just get slightly positive, suddenly you've literally had $150 million revenue business in India. The India government, largely due to COVID, it's been very, very slow at moving their prices up. While oil doubled from 40 to 80, they haven't doubled the prices for biodiesel. They've been just going through this recurring process every 3 months of setting out a new price and everybody saying, gosh, that's not keeping up with the price of oil.

是的。我們的印度生物柴油工廠作為運行而不是開關，原料和政府購買價格之間的差異，如果你稍微樂觀一點，突然間你在印度的業務收入確實達到了 1.5 億美元。印度政府，主要是由於 COVID，在提高價格方面非常非常緩慢。雖然石油價格從 40 翻倍到 80，但生物柴油的價格並沒有翻倍。他們只是每 3 個月重複一次製定新價格的過程，每個人都說，天哪，這跟不上石油價格。

We do think the India government will catch up. And if you listen to Prime Minister Modi's presentation at COP26 in Glasgow, they're certainly committed to playing a role in decarbonization. So we think India will catch up and play the role they would like to play. What we've been trying to achieve though, is to have a global market for our India product. And India has a view that they have such a strong demand, 5% of 25 billion gallons a year is 1.25 billion gallons of biodiesel, it's stated in their national biofuels policy but they've not been able to execute against that. And so, we went to the government and said, we have a substantial investment, we have a lot of employees, we have 100% of our employees that working for us, and we are well-positioned to create additional investment and frankly, revenue for India by exporting out of India, which is tremendous for their balance of trade.

我們確實認為印度政府會迎頭趕上。如果你聽了莫迪總理在格拉斯哥舉行的 COP26 上的演講，他們肯定致力於在脫碳中發揮作用。所以我們認為印度會迎頭趕上並扮演他們想扮演的角色。不過，我們一直在努力實現的目標是為我們的印度產品打造全球市場。印度認為他們有如此強勁的需求，每年 250 億加侖的 5% 是 12.5 億加侖的生物柴油，這是在他們的國家生物燃料政策中規定的，但他們無法執行。因此，我們去了政府並說，我們有大量投資，我們有很多員工，我們有 100% 的員工為我們工作，我們有能力創造額外的投資，坦率地說，收入通過從印度出口對印度來說，這對他們的貿易平衡來說是巨大的。

And so, we are within hopefully weeks and maybe even days of getting an approval that took us many years to get. And the natural market is California were, of course, we are very well-positioned, because when it's shipped across the ocean, the biodiesel turns into solid. It's kind of cold on the ocean, and so when it arrives, you just can't pour it into a tank or into a truck. You actually have logistics of steam heating the tanks and turning it back into liquid and then transloading into trucks. And we have the Riverbank facility that's ideally situated to handle this kind of logistics. We have a 120 railcar rail line already in place, and so we are able to, with very low cost and pretty much just with our existing team, able to become a supplier of biodiesel into California at what we believe to be very high margins.

因此，我們有望在數週甚至數天內獲得我們花了很多年才獲得的批准。自然市場是加利福尼亞州，當然，我們處於非常有利的位置，因為當它被運往大洋彼岸時，生物柴油會變成固體。海上有點冷，所以當它到達時，你不能把它倒進水箱或卡車裡。你實際上有蒸汽加熱罐並將其變回液體然後轉運到卡車的物流。我們擁有 Riverbank 設施，地理位置優越，可以處理這種物流。我們已經有一條 120 節車廂的鐵路線，因此我們能夠以非常低的成本並且幾乎只需要我們現有的團隊，就能夠以我們認為非常高的利潤率成為加州的生物柴油供應商。

And the next question is coming from Amit Dayal from H.C. Wainwright.

下一個問題來自 H.C. 的 Amit Dayal。溫賴特。

Just coming to some of the near-term execution priorities. Eric, are there any changes to the deployment schedule for those 17 digesters doing supply chain challenges, et cetera, that are going in the market right now?

只是談到一些近期的執行優先事項。埃里克，這 17 個消化器的部署時間表是否有任何變化，這些消化器正在進行供應鏈挑戰，等等，現在正在進入市場？

Not since last quarter. I think we're -- we proactively bought a bunch of materials required for the whole thing. Andy, do you have any color?

自上個季度以來沒有。我認為我們 - 我們主動購買了整件事所需的一堆材料。安迪，你有顏色嗎？

Yes. During COVID, we were able to take advantage of -- it's interesting to think about the price of oil today versus what it was in April or May of 2020 when it would actually go below zero. We were able to go out and pre-purchase materials for 10 digesters, the liner material at about 50% of the cost of the original 2. We were able to go out and purchase the HDP pipeline that we used for the transmission of the gas at similar margin savings, so I think probably 40% margin. So, we've already sort of jumped ahead of the supply chain fortuitously taking advantage of that during COVID to take advantage of the lower pricing.

是的。在 COVID 期間，我們能夠利用——想想今天的石油價格與 2020 年 4 月或 5 月實際低於零的石油價格是很有趣的。我們能夠出去預購 10 個沼氣池的材料，內襯材料的成本約為原來 2 個的 50%。我們能夠出去購買用於輸送氣體的 HDP 管道以類似的利潤率節省，所以我認為可能有 40% 的利潤率。因此，我們已經有點領先於供應鏈，偶然地利用了 COVID 期間的優勢，以利用較低的價格。

So from a liner perspective, as far as that goes in pipeline, we're in very good shape of being ahead of the curve. When the economy really started to pick up, we also went ahead and preordered 5 of our dairy-based biogas cleanup skids. We do a little pre-treatment at the dairy before we send it to the main hub and those are now modularized. They were built during the summer time and into the early fall. They'll be delivered to us next week. So the next 5 digesters will have everything that they need, and we're currently in the RFP process for the next 5 after that for those digester skid units. So it's not out of question to say that we do see delays in materials, but we don't think there's any one piece that we've overlooked that will create a substantial delay for us. We're trying to stay ahead of it as much as possible by pre-ordering equipment for the next phase of digesters to be built so that we're staying -- trying to stay ahead of the global supply chain challenges.

因此，從班輪的角度來看，就管道而言，我們處於領先地位的良好狀態。當經濟真正開始好轉時，我們也提前訂購了 5 個基於乳製品的沼氣淨化設備。在我們將它發送到主要樞紐之前，我們在乳品廠做了一些預處理，這些現在已經模塊化。它們建於夏季和初秋。它們將在下週交付給我們。因此，接下來的 5 個沼氣池將擁有他們需要的一切，我們目前正在為接下來的 5 個沼氣池單元進行 RFP 流程。所以說我們確實看到材料延遲並不是毫無疑問的，但我們認為我們忽略的任何一件都會給我們造成實質性的延遲。我們正試圖通過為下一階段要建造的沼氣池預訂設備來盡可能地保持領先地位，這樣我們就可以留下來——試圖在全球供應鏈挑戰中保持領先地位。

Okay. And cash flows from the digesters deployed, are you starting to receive that yet or is there still a little bit lag? You highlighted there were some quality checks et cetera that needed to happen before you started receiving those cash flows?

好的。以及來自已部署沼氣池的現金流量，您是否已經開始收到或者還有一點滯後？您強調在開始收到這些現金流之前需要進行一些質量檢查等等？

So the way we're monetizing that currently is through the LCFS for the ethanol produced at the plant. So we received a pathway approval in March of this year, which lowered the CI score for the ethanol plant in Keyes from, call it, 67% to 65%. So we got about a 2-point reduction or close to a 2 point reduction. And so we're able to monetize the LCFS by taking the dairy biogas from the 2 existing digesters and utilizing it in a boiler at the plant to replace carbon-based natural gas as a source for energy at the plant.

因此，我們目前的貨幣化方式是通過工廠生產的乙醇的 LCFS。因此，我們在今年 3 月獲得了路徑批准，將 Keyes 乙醇工廠的 CI 分數從 67% 降低到 65%。所以我們得到了大約 2 點的減少或接近 2 點的減少。因此，我們能夠將 LCFS 貨幣化，方法是從 2 個現有的沼氣池中提取乳製品沼氣，並將其用於工廠的鍋爐，以取代碳基天然氣作為工廠的能源。

So we've been able to already monetize the gas coming off those first 2 dairies through the production of ethanol. That gives us a little bit of an advantage over some of the other developers who have to sit around and wait for CI score to be issued for the pipeline. As soon as we're able to complete our pipeline interconnect, which will happen in the next 45 to 50 days, something like 60 days, we'll have access to the PG&E pipeline. We'll then apply for the pipeline pathway for those 2 dairies, and then all the dairies that come after that.

因此，我們已經能夠通過生產乙醇將前兩個奶牛場產生的天然氣貨幣化。與其他一些不得不坐在那裡等待為管道發布 CI 分數的開發人員相比，這給了我們一點優勢。一旦我們能夠完成我們的管道互連，這將在接下來的 45 到 50 天內發生，大約 60 天，我們將可以訪問 PG&E 管道。然後，我們將為這 2 個乳品廠申請管道通道，然後是之後的所有乳品廠。

When it's all said and done, we'll have 3 different pathways for each dairy. One for using the biogas as processed energy at the ethanol plant, one for transmission to the utility pipeline, and one for our on-site CNG fueling station. We'll have maximum flexibility in terms of where we can send those -- send the gas to and we'll be able to monetize. But as far as to your question about when can we monetize in the pipeline, we'll do that as soon as our interconnection begins. And as you know, there's about a 30-day or 60-day -- sorry, 90-day data collection period and then CARB takes about another 90 days to give you the approval on the pathway.

總而言之，我們將為每種乳製品提供 3 種不同的途徑。一種用於將沼氣用作乙醇廠的加工能源，一種用於傳輸到公用事業管道，另一種用於我們的現場 CNG 加氣站。我們將在可以將這些發送到哪裡方面擁有最大的靈活性 - 將天然氣發送到我們將能夠獲利。但就您關於我們何時可以在管道中獲利的問題而言，我們將在互連開始後立即進行。如您所知，大約有 30 天或 60 天——對不起，90 天的數據收集期，然後 CARB 還需要大約 90 天才能批准您的途徑。

So, we can either take the provisional pathway that's granted or we can store those molecules and then monetize the full amount once the pathway has been granted, which usually takes -- from start to finish, it's about a 120 - day or a 180-day process.

因此，我們可以採用已獲准的臨時途徑，也可以存儲這些分子，然後在途徑獲准後將全部金額貨幣化，這通常需要——從開始到結束，大約需要 120 天或 180 天——日過程。

Okay. Okay. Understood. And then these offtake agreements with Delta and some other that you are working on. Should we view them a definitive agreement for these us?

好的。好的。明白了。然後是與 Delta 和您正在處理的其他一些協議的承購協議。我們是否應該將他們視為對這些我們的最終協議？

Yes. These are not memorandums of understanding or non-binding term sheets or napkins at the local restaurants. These are fully vetted, lawyered, reviewed, signed. There's nothing to do except to start to ship product, and Delta Airlines was a tremendous organization to work with. We worked with their global group and just a wonderful group of people. And we are currently working with several other airlines of that size as well. And we've just found a sincere commitment to sustainable aviation fuel and they do not really see other ways forward that are going to be quick or fitting with their existing equipment.

是的。這些不是當地餐館的諒解備忘錄或不具約束力的條款清單或餐巾紙。這些都是經過全面審查、律師、審查和簽署的。除了開始運送產品外，別無他法，而達美航空是一家非常適合合作的組織。我們與他們的全球團隊和一群很棒的人一起工作。我們目前也在與其他幾家同等規模的航空公司合作。我們剛剛找到了對可持續航空燃料的真誠承諾，他們並沒有真正看到其他可以快速或適合他們現有設備的前進方式。

And certainly, electricity is tough to see in cargo or passenger jets anytime soon, and hydrogen probably is in similar situation. So they have a sincere appetite to decarbonize, and they also understand the incentives are coming along, because of course the airline incentives are of meaningful number for them. We've found it's a very proactive community, and we happen to, interestingly, know a lot of people in that community because of our backgrounds. And it's gone very quickly, but certainly more quickly than I would have expected if you would asked me 6 months ago. I'm very, very pleased with the progress we're making there.

當然，短期內很難在貨機或客機中看到電力，而氫可能處於類似情況。因此，他們真誠地渴望脫碳，並且他們也了解激勵措施的到來，因為當然航空公司的激勵措施對他們來說意義重大。我們發現這是一個非常積極主動的社區，有趣的是，由於我們的背景，我們碰巧認識該社區中的很多人。它消失得非常快，但如果你在 6 個月前問我的話，肯定比我預期的要快。我對我們在那裡取得的進展感到非常非常高興。

Okay. And just one last one. If you get the approval for exports in India, how quickly can the plan be utilized, et cetera, to begin that process?

好的。最後一個。如果您獲得在印度出口的批准，該計劃等多快可以用於開始該流程？

We would be in production with a matter of few days, plant's fully capable of operations and does operate. This will just be a higher volume. And then the export process takes with some scheduling, but our initial shipments will not be bulk shipments so we're not going to have to schedule entire ship. We'll be using what it knows ISO tanks, about 8,000 gallons per and that's got a lot of flexibility around that. We're doing that on purpose just to be able to not have to wait for bulk shipments to be arranged. And so, we could easily be shipping in the first quarter.

我們將在幾天內投入生產，工廠完全有能力運營並且確實在運營。這只會是一個更高的音量。然後出口過程需要一些時間安排，但我們的初始裝運不會是批量裝運，因此我們不必安排整船。我們將使用它所知道的 ISO 罐，每個罐約 8,000 加侖，並且在這方面有很大的靈活性。我們這樣做是故意的，只是為了不必等待安排大宗裝運。因此，我們可以輕鬆地在第一季度發貨。

Paul, we're running out of time. Let's take 1 or maybe 2 more calls.

保羅，我們沒時間了。讓我們再接聽 1 次或 2 次電話。

Okay. There are 2 left in queue. The first one is coming from Ed Woo from Ascendiant Capital.

好的。隊列中還剩 2 個。第一個來自 Ascendiant Capital 的 Ed Woo。

Yes. Congratulations on all the milestones. My question is on Riverbank. When do you anticipate groundbreaking -- And when do you think that the plant will be operational?

是的。祝賀所有里程碑。我的問題是關於 Riverbank 的。您預計什麼時候破土動工——您認為工廠什麼時候可以投入運營？

We're expecting groundbreaking is going to be third quarter of next year. I think that operational would be roughly 24 months after that. I say roughly, because the particular contractor we're working with is completing a 225-million-gallon plant, and already has the vendors and supervising staff and they are just really ahead of the game, so I think we're going to need to amend those times as they get on the ground. These plants are usually run by the long lead time equipment, and we're finding ourselves in a position of which because of the contract we're using, we have some distinctive advantage that's going to save us a lot of time here. So, we'll be updating those numbers as we get closer to the third quarter next year. Paul is there any additional callers or questions?

我們預計將於明年第三季度破土動工。我認為運營將在此之後大約 24 個月。我粗略地說，因為與我們合作的特定承包商正在完成一個 2.25 億加侖的工廠，並且已經有供應商和監督人員，他們真的處於領先地位，所以我認為我們將需要在他們到達地面時修改這些時間。這些工廠通常由交貨期長的設備運行，由於我們使用的合同，我們發現自己處於這樣的位置，我們有一些獨特的優勢，可以在這裡節省我們很多時間。因此，隨著明年第三季度的臨近，我們將更新這些數字。 Paul 還有其他來電者或問題嗎？

We did have a question coming from Marco Rodriguez. Marco is calling from Stonegate Capital.

我們確實有來自 Marco Rodriguez 的問題。 Marco 從 Stonegate Capital 打來電話。

Most have been asked and answered. Just wanted to go through just a real quick housekeeping item. On the gross loss in the quarter, I believe you made some comments in prepared remarks, just unfortunately wasn't unable to get all down. But even if I took a look at excluding the reserves, it still looked like it was down year-over-year. Can you talk a little bit about the drivers behind that?

大多數已被詢問和回答。只是想通過一個真正的快速家政項目。關於本季度的毛損，我相信你在準備好的評論中發表了一些評論，但不幸的是，你並沒有完全放下。但即使我看了一下不包括儲備，它看起來仍然同比下降。你能談談這背後的驅動因素嗎？

What was down? I didn't get the metric.

什麼東西掉下來了？我沒有得到指標。

The gross profit.

毛利潤。

We have a -- sorry, a $5.3 million reserve for the California emissions credits that caused our cost of goods sold during the quarter to be increased by $5.3 million, if that's what you're comparing.

抱歉，我們有 530 萬美元的加州排放信用儲備金，這導致我們在本季度銷售的商品成本增加了 530 萬美元（如果您要比較的話）。

And it would put us -- this is Todd, it would put us really level with the same quarter last year. Last year we recorded $12.2 million, this year we're reporting $17.5 million adjusting for the $5.3 million. Really sets from that loss at exactly what it was last quarter -- quarter a year ago.

這會讓我們 - 這是托德，它會讓我們真正與去年同期持平。去年我們錄得 1220 萬美元，今年我們報告 1750 萬美元，調整後為 530 萬美元。從這一損失來看，確實是上個季度的損失——一年前的一個季度。

There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call back over to the management.

目前沒有其他問題。我想把電話轉回管理層。

Thank you, Paul. Thanks to the Aemetis shareholders analysts, and others for joining us today. Please review the Aemetis corporate presentation and the Aemetis investor presentation that was on the Aemetis website. We look forward to talking with you about participating in the growth opportunities at Aemetis. Todd?

謝謝你，保羅。感謝 Aemetis 股東分析師和其他人今天加入我們。請查看 Aemetis 網站上的 Aemetis 公司介紹和 Aemetis 投資者介紹。我們期待與您討論參與 Aemetis 的發展機會。托德？

Thank you for attending today's Aemetis earnings conference call. Please visit the Investors section of the Aemetis website where we will post a written version and audio version of this Aemetis earnings review and business update. Paul?

感謝您參加今天的 Aemetis 收益電話會議。請訪問 Aemetis 網站的投資者部分，我們將在此處發布此 Aemetis 收益回顧和業務更新的書面版本和音頻版本。保羅？

Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。