Court Slams Phillips 66 With Trade Secrets Fine

A California court ruled that refiner Phillips 66 will have to pay $800 million to a biofuels-making company for stealing its trade secrets in order to build its own biofuels business.

Per a Reuters report, the sum is split into $605 million in compensation for Propel Fuels and $195 million in punitive damages. The court said Phillips 66 had engaged in “abusive behavior” towards the company, which it at one point wanted to acquire, but, according to an earlier court verdict, it was only a ruse to steal Propel Fuels’ secrets.

“In summary, the court finds that Phillips 66’s misconduct was ‘reprehensible’ from a business perspective. The evidence at trial reflects that Phillips 66 took advantage of Propel Fuels by abusing its bargaining power during due diligence,” the court said in its latest ruling.

Propel Fuels, a California-based maker of biofuels, filed a lawsuit against the refiner in 2022, after Phillips 66 started an acquisition process in 2017, dropped it in 2018, and started marketing its own biofuels in 2019, per the Reuters report.

Phillips 66, one of the biggest refiners in the United States, said last year it was going to shut down its refinery in California, citing “market dynamics”. These may well have involved California state legislation that has targeted the refining industry specifically as a scapegoat for exorbitant fuel prices and has also mandated that refiners keep a certain volume of fuel in inventory to avoid price spikes.

Phillips has one biofuels facility, the Rodeo Renewable Energy Complex, which began operation in mid-2022. Last year, the complex started producing sustainable aviation fuels on top of the other fuels. Yet, earlier this year, the biofuels segment booked a loss, even as sales of biofuels increased quite significantly from a year ago, from 34,000 barrels daily to 63,000 barrels daily.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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