Clearfield Bionol wins $230M judgment against Getty Petroleum Marketing

In Pennsylvania, Clearfield Bionol plant—which filed for Chapter 11 liquidation in July and is expected to be auctioned off in the next month or two—has won $230 million in a court case against Getty Petroleum Marketing who had signed an offtake agreement for almost all of the plant’s ethanol production.

The contract, signed in 2007, was pegged to the price of corn rather than to the price of ethanol but corn and ethanol prices had flipped by the time the plant opened in 2010.

If Getty manages to pay the money, it will go to the five banks who invested in the plant, but Getty missed its monthly rent payment on its 800 gas stations on Aug. 11 meaning that collection possibilities are low.