Nevada's Only Refinery Bets on Jet Fuel: Sky Quarry's Low-Carbon Pivot

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Equity Insider News Commentary – The U.S. refining map is shrinking — and that is exactly what makes a tiny Utah-based energy company suddenly worth a closer look. Sky Quarry Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYQ), owner of the only operating refinery in the State of Nevada, has signed an agreement aimed at steering that refinery toward one of the fastest-repricing corners of the fuel market: sustainable aviation fuel. It is an ambitious pivot for a micro-cap, and it lands against a difficult operating quarter the company is still working through.

Companies mentioned:

• Sky Quarry Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYQ)
• Calumet, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLMT)
• Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PARR)
• CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI)
• World Kinect Corporation (NYSE:WKC)
  
  
  
  

Key Takeaways:

• SAF pivot underway: Sky Quarry has entered a non-binding, multi-party Memorandum of Understanding with Southern Energy Renewables Inc. and DevvStream Corp. to pursue low-carbon fuel development, refinery integration and a pilot-scale pathway to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
• A scarce strategic asset: Through subsidiary Foreland Refining Corporation, Sky Quarry operates the Foreland Refinery in Railroad Valley — described as the only operating refinery in the State of Nevada — with permitted capacity of roughly 5,000 barrels per day.
• A large resource behind it: The company's PR Spring development in Utah covers roughly 5,930 acres of bitumen leases, carries a ~180-million-barrel resource estimate, and is advanced using Sky Quarry's proprietary, water-free ECOSolv recovery process.
• Policy and supply tailwinds: West Coast refining capacity is shrinking, and the U.S. has flagged domestic refining as a strategic priority — a backdrop that lends outsized value to a permitted, in-state Western refinery.
• Execution risk is real: The Foreland refinery was down for boiler repairs in late 2025 and Q1 2026, hammering revenue; management says repairs are complete with production expected to resume around June 2026. The company is a micro-cap that did a 1-for-8 reverse split in March 2026 and still needs financing for its development plans.
  
  
  
  

The MOU and What It Opens Up

In a May 7, 2026 announcement, Sky Quarry executed a non-binding, multi-party Memorandum of Understanding with Southern Energy Renewables Inc. — a U.S. developer of carbon-negative fuels and large-scale biomass-to-SAF platforms — and DevvStream Corp., a carbon-management and environmental-markets company. The MOU carries an initial three-year term and establishes a collaboration focused on fuel innovation, refinery integration and low-carbon fuel development, spanning recycled hydrocarbons, specialty fuels and sustainable aviation fuel.



The practical aim is to create a pilot-scale validation pathway for SAF and specialty fuels at the company's PR Spring development in Utah, alongside potential technology upgrades at the Foreland Refinery in Nevada that could allow it to produce on-spec aviation fuels. CEO Marcus Laun framed the goal as evolving the Foreland Refinery into a next-generation fuel production hub. Because the MOU is non-binding outside of customary provisions, it is a framework rather than a contract — but it points the refinery and the PR Spring resource at a quickly repricing market without Sky Quarry having to fund the entire pathway itself. Additional detail is available on the company's Equity Insider profile page.

The Assets Behind the Pivot

Sky Quarry is an integrated energy and resource-recovery company built around two core assets. The first is the Foreland Refinery in Railroad Valley, Nevada — operated through wholly owned subsidiary Foreland Refining Corporation — which the company describes as the only operating refinery in the state, with permitted capacity of roughly 5,000 barrels per day producing diesel, vacuum gas oil, naphtha and liquid paving asphalt for Western U.S. markets. In a region where refining capacity is scarce and shrinking, an in-state, permitted facility carries strategic value beyond its size.

The second asset is the PR Spring development in Utah, where the company holds bitumen leases over roughly 5,930 acres and is advancing its proprietary ECOSolv process — a closed-loop, solvent-based technology designed to recover oil from oil-saturated sands and other oil-bearing solids, including waste asphalt shingles, while recycling the bulk of its solvent and using no water. The company has put a 180-million-barrel resource estimate around the PR Spring asset and issued a request for proposals to accelerate its development. The SAF collaboration layers a low-carbon pathway on top of that existing hydrocarbon-recovery work rather than replacing it. Readers can explore the PR Spring and ECOSolv breakdown via the company's investor landing page.

The Operating Reality

Any honest read of the story has to account for the quarter behind it. The Foreland refinery experienced outages in late 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 for boiler repairs, which halted production and drove a sharp drop in revenue — first-quarter net sales fell to a negligible figure while the plant was down, against more than US$6 million in the year-earlier quarter, and the company reported a net loss of roughly US$2.3 million. Management has said the repairs are complete and production is expected to resume around June 2026, subject to feedstock procurement. The company is a micro-cap that executed a 1-for-8 reverse stock split in March 2026 to maintain its Nasdaq listing, and its development plans remain subject to financing.



None of that is hidden, and none of it is unusual for a company at this stage — but it is the context against which the SAF ambition has to be weighed. The refinery has to be running reliably before it can be upgraded into anything, and the PR Spring and SAF pathways depend on capital the company has not yet fully secured. The MOU is a credible strategic step; it is not, on its own, production.

The Peer Group

Sky Quarry is a tiny player in a field of far larger, better-capitalized refiners and low-carbon-fuel developers. Calumet, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLMT) owns Montana Renewables, one of the largest sustainable-aviation-fuel producers in North America, and has backed a major SAF capacity expansion with a multi-billion-dollar U.S. Department of Energy loan facility — the opposite end of the scale spectrum from Sky Quarry's single small refinery. Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PARR) operates a network of Western U.S. refineries and is advancing a Hawaii renewables/SAF project, giving it a direct read on the same distillate-tight, renewables-curious market Sky Quarry is targeting.



On the conventional side, CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI) is a mid-continent refiner with renewable-fuel exposure that illustrates how traditional refining margins and low-carbon initiatives increasingly sit side by side, while World Kinect Corporation (NYSE:WKC) is a global energy-management and fuel-logistics company whose aviation segment already supplies conventional jet fuel and sustainable aviation fuel to airlines and operators worldwide. Across the group, the common thread is the one driving interest in Sky Quarry: U.S. policy and tight conventional supply are pulling capital toward domestic and lower-carbon fuel production. The difference is scale — these peers run or finance large platforms, while Sky Quarry is trying to leverage one small, strategically located refinery into the same trade.

What to Watch From Here

For Sky Quarry, the near-term catalysts sequence in a clear order. First and most important is the refinery restart — resuming reliable production at Foreland after the boiler outages is the precondition for everything else. From there, investors will watch for any binding agreements or pilot activity flowing from the Southern Energy Renewables and DevvStream MOU, progress on the PR Spring RFP and broader development financing, and concrete steps toward the upgrades that would let Foreland produce on-spec aviation fuels. The combination of the only permitted refinery in Nevada, a large waste-to-oil resource, a proprietary recovery technology and a fresh low-carbon-fuel collaboration gives the company a more strategically interesting position than its size suggests — though execution and funding will determine whether that position converts into production. Follow the next milestone via the company's Sky Quarry landing page.

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SOURCES:

[1] Sky Quarry Inc. / Energy Metal News, "Nevada's Only Refinery Just Got a Jet-Fuel Makeover Plan," GlobeNewswire, June 2, 2026.

[2] Sky Quarry Inc., Memorandum of Understanding with Southern Energy Renewables Inc. and DevvStream Corp., announced May 7, 2026.

[3] Sky Quarry Inc., PR Spring RFP and corporate disclosures, May 2026; Q1 2026 financial results.

[4] Yahoo Finance / company filings for referenced comparable companies (tickers/exchanges as of June 2026).

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Owners, employees, and agents of USA and MIQL are not registered broker-dealers or investment advisors. The information contained in this communication is not, and should not be construed as, investment advice, an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. The information contained in this communication is current at the date of publication and is provided in good faith from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Readers should conduct their own due diligence and consult with a registered broker-dealer or financial advisor before making any investment decision.

This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable U.S. securities legislation. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks include, without limitation: market and commodity price volatility; legal and regulatory risks; risks of being a small-capitalization company; the volatility of microcap and small-cap securities; risks associated with U.S. listing requirements; reliance on a single operating refinery; risks associated with operating in regulated U.S. energy markets; geopolitical risks; risks associated with development-stage assets; and risks of changes in U.S. federal and state energy policy. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this communication.

This article references Sky Quarry, Inc.'s Request for Proposals to engage partners in accelerating development of the PR Spring oil sands asset. Independent investors should understand that the RFP is a non-binding solicitation of interest. There is no guarantee that any partnership transaction, joint venture, or development financing will result from the RFP process, or that any specific commercial terms will be agreed. Estimated production costs ($35 per barrel) and incremental capital requirements ($4 to $5 million) are based on prior engineering and feasibility work and are subject to change. The PR Spring resource estimate (approximately 180 million barrels) is based on prior technical reports and does not constitute proved reserves.

Comparable companies referenced in this article (Valero Energy, HF Sinclair, Par Pacific, and Delek US) are presented for context purposes only. Sky Quarry, Inc. is materially different from each of these comparables in terms of market capitalization, refining throughput, leverage, and operating scope. Past performance of any comparable does not guarantee future performance of Sky Quarry, Inc.

By reading this communication, the reader acknowledges that they have read and understand this disclaimer and the risks identified herein.