HAMR Energy is advancing Australia’s clean-fuel transition with large-scale production of low-carbon methanol and sustainable aviation fuels. ChemAnalyst interviewed Co-Founder David Stribley on the company’s vision, technologies, and the role of Australia’s renewable fuel push in the Asia-Pacific region.
HAMR Energy, an emerging leader in low-carbon fuel innovation, is redefining Australia’s Renewable Energy landscape through large-scale production of low carbon Methanol and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Founded to address the critical supply gap in renewable Liquid Fuels, HAMR Energy aims to help industries accelerate Decarbonization and meet regulatory commitments. Its flagship Portland RENEWABLE FUELS PROJECT is one of Australia’s largest biofuel developments, utilizing biomass gasification and green Hydrogen integration to produce low-carbon methanol. ChemAnalyst spoke with David Stribley, Co-Founder of HAMR Energy, about the company’s founding vision, its advanced renewable fuel technologies, the challenges of scaling sustainable fuels, and the broader impact of Australia’s cleaner fuel initiatives on the Asia-Pacific region.
Complete Interview with David Stribley
1. What inspired you to co-found HAMR Energy?
David Stribley: We established HAMR Energy several years ago with a clear objective—to help our customers access the low-carbon fuels they’ll need for the future. Our mission is twofold: to accelerate their decarbonization journey and to support them in meeting growing regulatory requirements. We noticed that many fuel users face a significant challenge: they are under increasing pressure to reduce emissions and comply with regulations, yet often lack reliable access to renewable fuel alternatives. HAMR Energy was founded to bridge this gap—by producing low-carbon fuels at scale, at competitive costs, and by ensuring that our customers can transition smoothly to sustainable energy solutions.
2. Question: What did your first pitch to investors sound like, and how did they react to your vision?
David Stribley: Our vision is shaped by the understanding that decarbonization is inevitable, though not a linear journey. Around 30% of global primary energy still comes from liquid fuels—a segment that’s seen little progress compared to electricity, where solar, batteries, hydro, and nuclear have driven major advances.
Sectors like aviation, shipping, heavy industry, and chemicals will continue relying on liquid fuels for the foreseeable future. This presents a huge opportunity, as many customers in these industries now seek support to access low-carbon solutions. That’s exactly why HAMR Energy exists—to help bridge this gap and drive the decarbonization of liquid fuels.
3. You have worked for ExxonMobil. Which lessons from your ExxonMobil days do you find yourself applying to most at HAMR Energy?
David Stribley: Our time at ExxonMobil gave us a strong foundation. Both my co-founder and I learned the importance of executing large-scale, capital-intensive projects with discipline—a hallmark of Exxon’s approach. We also learned to stay customer-focused; there’s no point developing a product that doesn’t meet real market needs.
Equally important is ensuring strong industrial logic—working where the right resources and conditions exist, rather than pushing uphill. And finally, having a deep technical understanding is essential. You must truly know the technology behind the projects you’re delivering.
4. What have been some defining challenges in leading HAMR Energy?
David Stribley: We’ve learned a lot along the way, and our main challenges haven’t been technical. The technology to produce sustainable fuels already exists, and through partners like ThyssenKrupp, we’re working with proven, bankable solutions.
The real challenge lies within the market itself, as sustainable aviation fuel and low carbon methanol remain emerging commodities without an established trading ecosystem. That uncertainty—around pricing, demand, and long-term outlook—makes it difficult to plan. The whole industry is facing the same question: how do you build a Commodity-scale product when the future market is still taking shape?
5. Could you explain how HAMR Energy’s renewable methanol technology works, and what differentiates it from competitors in the market?
David Stribley: Our approach integrates biomass gasification with green hydrogen. This hybrid pathway offers the cost advantage of bio-projects with the scalability of e-fuel projects. It enables us to produce renewable methanol efficiently, supplying multiple sectors—from shipping and aviation to chemicals—while maintaining cost competitiveness. We combine advanced technology with resource advantage. Our Portland Project is based in Australia’s largest forestry region, giving us access to abundant, underutilized biomass and renewable power. Its proximity to a deep-water port strengthens export logistics. This alignment of resource, technology, and location gives us a clear edge.
6. How do you see this technology evolving over the next five years?
David Stribley: It’s a really interesting space. Looking at how oil and gas production has evolved over the past 50–60 years, you can see that once facilities are operational, there’s significant room for optimization—whether it’s switching to lower-cost feedstocks or improving efficiency.
For example, we’re starting to explore how electrolyzers interact with variable energy grids, which presents exciting optimization opportunities we haven’t fully tapped yet. We’re also collaborating with technology companies, like Supercritical in the UK, to make electrolyzers more efficient.
Overall, I expect a lot of innovation around these building blocks, and the real challenge will be integrating them effectively into a single, optimized system.
7. What are the biggest technical hurdles HAMR Energy has faced in developing large-scale low-carbon fuel projects?
David Stribley: While the technical building blocks for projects like this are well-established—gasification, electrolysis, and methanol production have all been around for decades—the bigger challenges lie in the commercial side.
Specifically, it’s about securing offtake agreements in emerging markets. There are customers interested, but giving them the confidence to commit long-term is difficult when the market outlook for 2035–2040 is still uncertain.
The real challenge is integrating the commercial and technical elements—they must work together. It’s not just about perfecting the technology; the technical and commercial aspects need to align seamlessly for the project to succeed.
8. Tell us about the Portland Renewable Fuels Project, its significance, and how it will influence local jobs and regional development.
David Stribley: The Portland project is our flagship low carbon methanol development and one of the largest low-carbon fuel projects in Australia. When completed around 2030, it will produce 300,000 tonnes of green methanol annually, using second-generation lignocellulosic biomass and green hydrogen. If used as a fuel, it will abate over 320,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
What makes the Portland project unique is its positive impact on regional communities. Since biomass feedstock is sourced locally, it supports regional economies, creating about 80 full-time jobs across forestry, transport, port, and export sectors, and over 200 jobs during construction.
The project is versatile, capable of decarbonizing multiple sectors, including maritime—where many vessels are now dual-fuel methanol—chemical industries such as adhesives, and aviation through our methanol-to-jet plant. Its scale, technological approach, and regional benefits make it a major milestone in Australia’s low-carbon fuel transition.
9. HAMR Energy plans to build Australia’s first large-scale methanol-to-jet fuel facility. How will this transform aviation?
David Stribley: Our methanol-to-jet project builds on Portland’s foundation. It uses a hub-and-spoke model, centralizing upgrading where demand is strongest—such as Melbourne. This modular approach allows us to scale production in line with aviation’s gradual adoption of SAF, ensuring flexibility and resilience as the market matures.
10. What key partnerships have enabled HAMR Energy to scale?
David Stribley: We believe partnerships are critical in this space. For our gasification-to-methanol project, we’ve partnered with Thyssenkrupp Uhde in Germany as our primary licensor, and we’ve recently completed pre-FEED with them. Feedstock supply is also essential, so we’ve partnered with forestry companies including one of Australia’s largest One Forty One, which has assets across Australia and New Zealand.
We’re also working closely with Honeywell on our Methanol-to-Jet process, and hope to announce offtake partnerships soon. For us, partnerships must create mutual value—together, we can achieve more than we could separately. If a partner doesn’t benefit, the relationship isn’t meaningful. In this sector, strong, value-driven collaborations are vital to success.
11. How do you see initiatives like the Cleaner Fuel Program shaping the renewable fuel sector in Australia and Asia-Pacific?
David Stribley: It’s a very exciting time. Over the past six months, we’ve seen significant momentum in the sector, driven by both government support and growing market demand. Programs like Australia’s $1.1 billion Cleaner Fuels initiative, the $250 million Low Carbon Liquid Fuels Fund through ARENA, and Hydrogen Head Start 2.0 are clear signals that the government recognizes the critical role of transportation in the region and the need for a decarbonization pathway.
What’s particularly encouraging is that we’re now seeing demand-side drivers as well, including greenhouse gas targets from the International Maritime Organization and sustainable aviation fuel targets across Southeast Asia by 2030. This combination of government incentives on the production side and strong emerging demand creates a substantial supply-demand gap—and presents enormous opportunities for scaling low-carbon fuels. It’s an exciting moment as both sides of the equation begin to align.
12. How do you balance sustainability goals with commercial realities?
David Stribley: At the end of the day, we are a commercial enterprise. While sustainability and decarbonization are important, our primary focus is producing the best product for our customers at the right price.
We see a clear market gap for low-carbon liquid fuels, driven partly by customer incentives and partly by regulatory compliance requirements. Meeting these needs while maintaining commercial viability is central to our approach.
13. How is HAMR Energy preparing for potential market disruptions or shifts in technology?
David Stribley: Early in our strategy, we chose methanol because of its versatility across multiple markets. For example, our methanol-to-jet plant could face low demand in aviation during events like a pandemic, but at the same time, shipping demand might surge. Having multiple, decoupled markets provides strategic resilience and helps manage market risks.
Methanol also benefits from a strong existing fossil-based market, giving a stable underpinning while the low-carbon sector scales. Additionally, our customers make long-term investment decisions—vessel operators, for instance, may order ships today that won’t be delivered until 2028 and will operate for 25+ years. Our designs need to be robust for current and future technologies, such as electrolyzers, while reflecting long-term macro drivers and capital deployment trends that will persist into the 2040s.
14. Where do you see the greatest opportunities and risks for renewable energy development in Australia and Asia Pacific region over the next five years?
David Stribley: Our greatest opportunity—and risk—is timing. Regions like Australia have a unique advantage: abundant, underutilized biomass and access to renewable power, combined with proven technology. This gives us everything needed to develop low-carbon liquid fuels at scale.
The risk is moving too slowly. By 2030, demand for sustainable aviation fuel and IMO targets for shipping will ramp up significantly. If Australia doesn’t act quickly, we risk missing the chance to establish a local low-carbon fuels market, losing both economic opportunity and potential GDP benefits. Delaying action means others will fill the gap, and we’ll end up paying the cost as consumers without capturing the economic upside. Timing is critical.
15. What advice would you give emerging entrepreneurs in clean energy, and should future founders focus on technical innovation, industry networking, or both?
David Stribley: First and foremost, start with your customers. You can have the best idea in the world, but if it doesn’t solve a real problem or meet a genuine need, it will remain just an idea. Talk to your customers—understand what they want, the challenges they face, and how you can support them through the energy transition. It’s important to recognize that this transition is complex and uncertain for many businesses, so patience and empathy are essential.
Perseverance and patience are also key. The energy transition isn’t a straight path—it will have ups and downs. What matters is staying committed to the direction we’re heading, celebrating small wins, and learning from the setbacks along the way.
Finally, I’d say industry networking is just as important as technical innovation. While new technologies will continue to emerge, much of what we need to decarbonize already exists today. What we need now is stronger collaboration, customer engagement, and real-world deployment. Networking helps align solutions with market needs—because without customer offtakes and partnerships, the transition simply won’t happen.
