(Bloomberg) — Gevo Inc., the U.S. biofuel producer backed
by French oil company Total SA, jumped the most in almost two
months after announcing the first U.S. sales of its additive at
a retail service station.
Gevo climbed 20 percent to $2.62 at the close in New York,
the most since June 2. The Englewood, Colorado-based company has
lost 45 percent this year.
Gevo converts corn and plant waste into ethanol and
isobutanol, which is processed into jet fuel and other
substances that replace petroleum-based fuel. An Express Lube
service station in Texas is now offering gasoline blended with
isobutanol at the pump, the first in the U.S., according to a
statement Thursday.
The station is “anticipated to be the first of many retail
locations” to offer the product, the company said.
Express Lube is selling the isobutanol fuel at a premium of
more than 50 percent compared to the local blend of ethanol and
gasoline, according to the statement. It’s suitable for lawn
mowers, boats and other equipment that’s used infrequently
because it “does not cause carburetors to gum up the way
ethanol does,” Adam Sheffield, the service station’s owner,
said in the statement.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Nussbaum in New York at
anussbaum1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Will Wade, Richard Stubbe