Welcome to the Gevo First Quarter 2016 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Ann and I will be your operator for today’s call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will be conduct a question-and-answer session. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I’ll now turn the call over to Geoff Williams. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon and thank you for joining Gevo’s first quarter 2016 conference call. I’d like to start by introducing today’s participants from the Company. We have with us today Pat Gruber, Gevo’s Chief Executive Officer; and Mike Willis, Gevo’s Chief Financial Officer. Earlier today we issued a press release which outlines the topics that we plan to discuss today. A copy of this press release is available on our Web site at www.gevo.com. I would like to remind our listeners that this conference call is open to the media and we are providing a simultaneous webcast of this call to the public. A replay of today’s call will be unavailable on Gevo’s Web site. On the call today and on this webcast, you will hear discussions of certain non-GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is contained in the press release distributed today and which is posted on our Web site. We will also make certain forward-looking statements about events and circumstances that have not yet occurred including but not limited to projections about Gevo’s operating activities for the remainder of 2016 and beyond. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current, beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties including those disclosed in Gevo’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K which was filed with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC on March 30, 2016 and in subsequent reports and other filings made with the SEC by Gevo. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of today’s date and Gevo disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Please refer to Gevo’s SEC filings for a detailed discussion of the relevant risks and uncertainties. On today’s call Pat will begin with a review of Gevo’s recent business developments. Mike will then review Gevo’s financial results for the fourth quarter of 2015 and the year ended December 31, 2015. Following the presentation, we will open up the call for questions. I’ll now turn the call over to Pat.

Thank you, Jeff. Before today I’d like to focus my update on the variant and the progress we’ve been making since the restart of the isobutanol side of the plant in mid-March. As recall, in September 2015 we announced that we were going to invest approximately $5 million into Luverne. The upgrades we were looking to make were designed to decrease the cost of production for isobutanol by bringing on-site certain parts of the production process that has previously been done off-site by third parties. There were three key pieces of equipment associated with approximately $5 million of capital improvement projects that we completed in March. The first thing we did regarding equipment was replace one of the carbon steel production fermenters with a new stainless steel fermenter as the old fermenter was nearing the end of its useful life. By installing a new stainless steel fermenter, this allows for a more robust operating environment for either isobutanol or ethanol production. The second piece of equipment was a second installation system, designed to handle the output of our isobutanol fermentation train. Previously we only had one distillation system at Luverne, which we’re configured for ethanol given the larger production and revenues coming from the ethanol side of the plant. Without this distillation equipment, for isobutanol we were forced to send our [indiscernible] off-side to a third-party to peer fly. And that added about a $1.50 to $2 per gallon costs to our finished isobutanol product. The third piece of equipment was an addition to our seed train, which allows us to produce yeast outside at Luverne at a lower cost. Previously we were contracting with third parties to produce production quantities of Gevo’s yeast. This was relatively expensive, because we were forced to use larger amounts of purchased yeast in…

Thank you, Pat. Gevo reported revenue in the first quarter of 2016 of $6.3 million as compared to $5.9 million in the same period in 2015. The increase in revenue during 2016 is primarily the result of the production and sale of approximately $5.8 million of ethanol, isobutanol and distillers grains at the Luverne plant as compared to $5.1 million in the first quarter of 2015. This change was principally due to higher ethanol production partly offset by lower ethanol prices in the first quarter of 2016 versus the same period in 2015. During the first quarter of 2016, hydrocarbon revenues were $0.3 million as compared to $0.5 million in the same period in 2015. This decrease was primarily the result of timing of shipments of finished products from Gevo’s hydrocarbon’s demo facility located in Silsbee, Texas. Gevo also generated grant revenue of $0.3 million during the first quarter of 2016, which was flat as compared to the same period in 2015. Gevo’s grant revenue is primarily generated through the work we are doing with the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance or NARA, to produce isobutanol from cellulosic feedstock such as wood waste which would then be converted into Gevo’s ATJ. Cost of goods sold was $9.2 million in the first quarter of 2016 which was flat in comparison to the same period in 2015. Ethanol production costs were higher as a result of the increased ethanol production in this quarter versus the first quarter of 2015. However this was offset by limited isobutanol production costs in 2016 given we were still installing the new capital equipment at Luverne for most of this quarter. Gross loss was $2.9 million for the first quarter of 2016 versus $3.3 million for the first quarter of 2015. R&D expense was $1 million in the…

Thank you, Mike. So then going forward we’ll be working to optimize our production process at Luverne and continuing to get that equipment online and operating well. And we’re going to be focused on selling this isobutanol developing the jet market and isooctane sales. So let’s move to questions.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] And we have a question from Jeff Osborne. Please go ahead.

Hi, good afternoon guys. Pat, thanks for all the detail on the improvements of the plant. I look forward to tracking the progress as the cost comes down. Speaking of cost, I was wondering, can you just give us a rough sense of what the average cost was in 2015 or the previous capital projects that you had. I’m just trying to add up the numbers of the reduction potential that you mentioned relative to the guidance.

Jeff, this is Mike. So in September last year we actually showed a comparative graph. So we are operating in the $7 to $8 range, I think is what we showed. And so the expectation is to be sub $3.50 by the end of year. The key elements that Pat described are the distillation would be approximately $1.50 to 2 bucks per gallon, and the seed train should save us anywhere between $1 to $1.50, those would be the two major buckets and then there’s obviously other savings as well, but more minor in nature.

Got it. And then the, how should we think about moving from three batches a month to five, six bathes a month. Is there a big unabsorbed overhead cost that I guess, how do we base in the production cost improvements between now and the fourth quarter, that’s what I’m asking.

Yes. Well I think, the easiest way to do it is, when we’re operating at our six batches, five to six batches a month we should be down in the $3 to $3.50 per gallon variable cost range. And that will be the right way to think about it.

And if you’re at three or four batches, is it a dollar higher or something?

No, no. It’s really -- its not that much different. It’s not that much different actually, but the [indiscernible] mitigation, we’re doing total cost and total cost will be different because you have pure gallons spread in the fixed cost.

Got it. I just had a couple of other ones. Mike, how should we think about the OpEx trajectory through the year? Is the second level for each quarter for the following two or three quarter, and then I’ll switch with interest expense, stay at these levels or do you have any triggers on any of the debt facilities that you have out, or I need to keep in mind.

No. On the debt service side it should remain flat for the time being. And then on the OpEx side, yes this is pretty -- this should be pretty consistent with the balance of the year.

Got it. Last question, you gave a lot of update on the plant. Who you potentially will be selling to or you are selling to. But I just wondered if you could touch on Pat, where are we with project [ph] and the Argentina folks and other potential licensees?

Yes, both of them are learning how to run the fermentation taking our use to adapting it to their feedstocks in their location. Those are learning how to handle the stuff and keep, how to handle these bugs is just a little bit different game to play, different nutrient packages, sugars and stuff like that. So that’s the phase they’ve added in their learning curve of how do you run a fermentation.

Perfect. I appreciate it. Thanks so much.

[Operator Instructions]

All right. Then I guess, with that then thanks for joining us on this call. I appreciate it.

Thanks everyone. Bye-bye.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.