Houston-based Vertex Energy, Inc. on Monday (13 January) announced a 10-year marine fuel Joint Supply and Marketing Agreement (JSMA) with global physical supply network Bunker One USA, Inc. (BO).

The terms of the 10-year definitive agreement are as follows:

• Vertex has agreed to a supply and offtake agreement under which Bunker One, through its US subsidiary, Bunker One USA, Inc. (BO), will have the exclusive right to purchase 100% of Vertex’s Marrero, Louisiana refinery’s marine fuel production through December 2029. This arrangement provides BO customers a consistent supply of high-quality marine fuel, on-demand, while providing Vertex with surety of off-take for the entirety of its marine fuel supply during the next decade. This agreement includes provisions under which Vertex may supply BO proportionally all current and future (incremental) marine fuel production from both the Marrero refinery and the TCEP facility located in Baytown, Texas. Under the agreement, Vertex is also assuming oversight responsibilities for re-supply and delivery operations. In addition to the current and future Vertex production, this agreement allows for the long term development of additional strategic third-party supply from other sources of production managed by Vertex.

• BO has agreed to purchase Vertex’s marine fuel production at fair market transfer prices. Under the agreement, BO will purchase marine fuel from Vertex at a negotiated price correlated to Platts-based benchmarks.

• BO has agreed to provide Vertex the right to extend a net profit-sharing agreement to any port in North America that BO determines to sell marine fuel through in the future. Under the agreement, in the event that Vertex exercises those rights and the agreement is extended to such new port, Vertex will be entitled to net profits on each barrel of marine fuel sold by BO in such future North America ports.

• BO has purchased $5 million of Vertex’s securities. The investment by Bunker One has been made by the purchase of securities held by existing equity holders.

“Our strategic alliance with Bunker One represents a tremendous growth opportunity for Vertex, one that has the potential to transform our business in the years ahead. Over the last three years, under a prior agreement, our companies have worked closely to develop the foundation for this mutually beneficial long-term opportunity,” said Vertex Chairman and CEO Benjamin P. Cowart.

“This relationship not only ensures a long-term sales and marketing channel for 100% of our current marine fuel production at fair market prices, it also provides us surety of off-take for incremental marine fuel production in future years, while allowing us to participate as a minority partner in Bunker One’s entire North American marine fuel bunkering business.”

“BO has further memorialized its long-term commitment to Vertex through a non-dilutive equity investment in our Company, aligning their interests with those of both our management team and our shareholders. We look forward to providing additional details on our collective strategy on our year-end results conference call in early 2020,” he added.

“We are very excited about our strategic alliance with Vertex. During the last several years, Sara Shipman Myers, Managing Director of Bunker One (USA), and her team have worked very closely with Vertex, and the commitment from our Group to Vertex reflects the results of their hard work,” said Bunker One Global Head of Physical Carlos Gilberto Torres Padilla.

“We believe this relationship strengthens our ability to meet our customer demands for IMO compliant fuels for years to come serving as an excellent foundation for our business in the United States going forward.”

“We have a determined focus on expanding our Global Physical Supply network and are constantly looking for new growth opportunities. The United States is and will always be one of our core markets and we continue to see growth potential in the coming years,” said Bunker One Global Director Peter Zachariassen.

“The evolution of our relationship with Vertex is a great example of our expansion strategy in action. The importance of the deep local knowledge, together with a perfect partnership, is the key to success – local expertise strengthens our position as a global player, which is exactly what we have promised our customers.”

Photo credit: Bunker Holding
Published: 14 January, 2020