In the late 2000s, Big Oil led by Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A), BP Plc. (NYSE: BP), ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) hyped algae biofuel as the fuel of the future, pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the emerging industry with promises of decarbonization and energy innovation. More than a decade later, the algal biofuel dream has remained just that–a dream–with virtually all big players but one–Exxon–pulling the plug on their expensive projects. In 2009, Exxon entered the algae biofuels race with a bang, teaming up with unicorn biotech startup Synthetic Genomics Inc ., and outlining plans to invest more than $600M in the clean energy project. Exxon had lofty ambitions to produce algae biofuel within a decade but later pushed back the ETA in 2018 by saying it planned to produce 10,000 barrels of algae biofuels per day by 2025. Exxon now stands as the […]