Renewable Energy Group is a biodiesel production company headquartered in Ames, Iowa. The company operates 12 biorefineries and a feedstock processing facility.[4] As of 2018[update], the company is a Fortune 1000 corporation.[5]
Renewable Energy Group began in 1996 as the biodiesel division of West Central Cooperative[6][7] with the construction of a plant in Ralston, Iowa. In 2006, the company separated from West Central and moved its headquarters to Ames.[8]
In 2013, the company acquired Tulsa-based biofuels company Syntroleum Corporation amid that company's struggles for profitability.[9] In 2015 it acquired the assets of Grays Harbor, Washington-based biodiesel company Imperium Renewables.[10]
On February 28, 2022, the company announced they would be acquired by the California-based oil company Chevron Corporation.[11] On June 13, the acquisition was completed.[12]
Upon separation from West Central, the initial CEO of the company was Jeff Stroburg, succeeded in 2011 by Daniel Oh.[8] After Oh's abrupt and unexpected resignation in 2017, Reginald Howard became interim CEO, and was replaced in 2018 by Cynthia Warner.[13][2]
In June 2001, the predecessor company's InterWest facility in Ralston exploded, leaving one man in critical condition.[14][15]
The company's biofuels production facility in Geismar, Louisiana suffered from explosions in April and September 2015.[16] As a result of this explosion, Renewable Energy Group was cited with three "willful" safety violations and was fined $70,000 by OSHA.[17]
$2.135 billion (2020) [3]
