Bolder Industries signs offtake agreement for recycled-content oil

Colorado-based Bolder Industries, Inc. says it has signed a 20-year marketing agreement with Tauber Oil Co. “for exclusive offtake of BolderOil,” a scrap tire-derived petrochemical product.

Under the agreement, independent wholesale petroleum and petrochemical product marketer Tauber will have exclusive access to what Bolder calls “the largest allocation and supply of tire-derived, sustainable oil known in the industry, by way of a proven industry pioneer.”

Houston-based Tauber Oil will be the exclusive purchaser of BolderOil for 20 years, acquiring approximately 2 million barrels annually as supply becomes available and Bolder adds capacity. Tauber will “manage all administrative and sales services including logistics, consulting, billing and fulfillment between Bolder Industries and its global customers,” according to a Bolder news release. “In turn, Tauber will consult with Bolder on the design and engineering of any storage offtake and infrastructure at its current facility and future planned facilities,” adds the company.

BolderOil has applications in renewable fuels, as a replacement oil in ASTM-grade carbon blacks, oil and gas well cleanup and chemical solvents. “As a sustainably derived product, BolderOil increases environmental savings for end customers and, because it is decoupled from oil indices, can also improve pricing stability,” states the 10-year-old Colorado company.

“For years, we’ve closely monitored the race to turn tires into high-quality petrochemicals but, until we met the Bolder Industries team, we had yet to see it accomplished successfully at commercial scale,” comments Jonathan Tauber, president of Tauber Oil.

“After visiting their facility, it was immediately apparent they were doing something special,” adds Tauber. “Now, through arduous due diligence, we are confident and eager to provide sustainably derived petrochemicals at the level of quality, consistency and specifications our customers demand. We expect this partnership will give way to expansion and deliver meaningful environmental impact that our customers and the world needs."

States Bolder Industries CEO Tony Wibbeler, “Strategic investments and alliances such as this signal the next phase for our hyper-growth company. This relationship enables us to grow our petrochemical business exponentially with a well-known and highly respected partner that we are very pleased to be working with day to day.”

Bolder says the partnership allows Tauber Oil to better serve its largest global customers by ensuring their ability to meet all regulatory guidelines while providing access to renewable petrochemicals on a consistent basis.

Tauber contributed to part of the 2021 $80 million investment in Bolder Industries, which assisted in the expansion of its current facility in Maryville, Missouri, and acquisition of a Terre Haute, Indiana, facility as well as a newly announced European expansion in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium.

Additional facilities, both domestically and overseas, are planned in 2023 and beyond to meet rising demand from automotive, plastics, rubber and sustainable petrochemicals manufacturers looking to meet their environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) goals, says Bolder.

In Bolder’s recovery process, 98 percent of each tire is repurposed, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, water, and power usage by 85 percent compared to traditional manufacturing processes, says the firm.

“To be able to take something as notoriously synonymous with pollution as an old tire and repurpose it into literally hundreds of different useful products is an incredible achievement by Bolder Industries,” says David Tauber Sr., board chair of Tauber Oil. “We at Tauber Oil are delighted to have a hand in bringing to market products from our industry that not only reduce production emissions and natural resource use but keep millions of tires out of landfills every year.”