Marathon Petroleum, ADM close soybean oil offtake deal

Marathon Petroleum and Archer-Daniels-Midland have closed on their joint venture to produce soybean oil in North Dakota, which will solely be used by Marathon to produce renewable fuels, the companies said in a joint statement released Dec. 14.

Named Green Bison Soy Processing, the joint venture will own and operate a soybean processing complex in Spiritwood, North Dakota. The plant, owned by ADM, will increase soybean crushing capacity by 1.5 million tons, the Dec. 14 statement said.

The plant will be North Dakota's first-ever dedicated soy crush plant and refinery, said Greg Morris, ADM's head of agricultural services and oilseeds at the company's Dec. 10 investor day.

"Expected to be complete in 2023, the $350 million Spiritwood facility will source and process local soybeans and supply the resulting soybean oil exclusively to MPC. The Spiritwood complex is expected to produce approximately 600 million pounds of refined soybean oil annually, enough feedstock for approximately 75 million gallons of renewable diesel per year," the Dec. 14 statement released by ADM and Marathon Petroleum said.

According to Marathon Petroleum's Renewable Fuels website, Marathon Petroleum's Dickinson, North Dakota, renewable fuel facility came online in late 2020 and reached full capacity of about 184 million gal/year of renewable diesel production in 2021.

Marathon is also in the process of converting the Martinez, California, hydrocarbon refinery to make about 730 million gal/year renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. Production is expected to begin in 2022 and ramp up to full capacity in 2023, according to Marathon Petroleum's Renewable Fuels website.