Court orders restraint on Gevo sales, pending preliminary injunction decision

In Delaware, Butamax Advanced Biofuels notes the U.S. Federal District Court in the District of Delaware order limiting Gevo’s commercial activities, effective immediately. The order specifies:

It is ordered that, until further order of the court, defendant Gevo, Inc., … and those persons in active concert or participation with them who receive notice of the instant order by personal service or otherwise, shall not deliver, provide, distribute, ship, release, or transfer in any way bio-based isobutanol produced at Gevo’s Luverne facility from recombinant yeast microorganisms to any third party for any use or purpose, except that it may sell its bio-based isobutanol produced at the Luverne facility to Sasol for chemical applications and the U.S. Air Force for jet fuel testing applications.

“This order provides protection for markets of key interest to Butamax,” said Paul Beckwith, Butamax CEO. “We are pleased the court took this urgent action and look forward to the Judge’s full preliminary injunction opinion.”

Gevo EVP & General Counsel Brett Lund responded that the company intends to “maintain status quo” until the Court renders its decision on the pending request for a preliminary injunction.

“In light of our recent startup and Gevo’s ability to bring commercial scale isobutanol to market, we respect the judge’s decision to issue an order instructing Gevo to maintain the status quo. As the judge has not made a decision for or against the preliminary injunction to date, it’s understandable that she wants to make sure Gevo sticks to its current business plan. For Gevo, that means we continue to optimize Luverne operating parameters, continue engineering work and preparation for construction of Redfield and most importantly we sell our renewable isobutanol toSasol and the U.S. Air Force.”

The court’s order is here.