The Odessa College Board of Trustees approved a request for a tax abatement from Nacero.
Nacero plans a $4.7-billion gasoline manufacturing plant at Penwell, 15 miles west-southwest of Odessa off I-20. The OC board took action at a special virtual meeting April 15, Director of Media Relations Cheri Dalton said in a text message.
Accompanied by Wesley Burnett, director of economic development at the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, Nacero Inc. Chief Operating Officer Hal Bouknight told the Odessa American this week that he hopes to start construction late this year or early next year, assuming the necessary financing is obtained.
He said that because Nacero’s innovative new process entails manufacturing, not refining, gasoline, a permit from the U.S. Department of Energy is not required; however, Bouknight said the approval of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is needed.
Asked if the plant would stand on the Penwell land that was targeted for the much-touted FutureGen coal gasification plant that never happened, he said a site had not been chosen, an Odessa American article said.
According to its website, “Nacero uses natural gas, renewable natural gas and captured waste gas to make zero sulfur gasoline for today’s cars and trucks from manufacturing facilities run on renewable power using carbon capture when feasible. In contrast, traditional refineries use heat and pressure to crack crude oil into gasoline and other non-gasoline byproducts. Nacero’s cleaner product and process yields gasoline with less than half the carbon emissions as traditional gasoline.”
