Prepared for lenders, CDCs, and federal agencies to SBA SOP 50 10 8, USDA RD Instruction 5001, and conventional underwriting standards. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the agency, never the borrower. More than 4,000 studies since 1998 covering $40.2 billion in evaluated project value.
Downstream feasibility turns on crack-spread economics and utilization: the margin between feedstock and product slates, the plant's competitive position against regional supply, logistics access on both the inbound and outbound side, and the regulatory and turnaround capital that the operating model must carry. Smaller-scale fuels production — blending, lubricants, asphalt — is evaluated on niche-market capture and contract quality.
Methodology combines EIA margin and utilization series, regional product supply-demand balances, logistics cost analysis, and engineering capital estimates independently benchmarked. The model carries margin sensitivity as the primary stress axis, with coverage tested at conservative spreads.
Every Wert-Berater financial model is fully linked with no hardcoded values, so any reviewer can stress any input. Deliverables comprise a complete narrative report and the linked Excel model, with ten-year pro forma, sensitivity analysis at ±5, 10, and 15 percent, interest-rate stress from +0.5 to +3.0 percent, and ratio analysis benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data.
SBA engagements are prepared to SOP 50 10 8, including its debt-service-coverage minimums of 1.15x operating and 1.00x global. USDA engagements follow RD Staff Instruction 5001 across the Business & Industry, Community Facilities, REAP, and Value-Added Producer Grant programs. Conventional engagements are built to the lender's stated coverage standard, typically 1.20x. Oil, gas, and heavy-industrial projects reach us through conventional and institutional lending most commonly, with USDA B&I applicable to qualifying rural energy and processing assets and SBA programs serving owner-operator support businesses; each study is prepared to the corresponding compliance standard, with environmental and regulatory conditions precedent stated plainly.
The firm's energy and fuel-infrastructure record spans travel centers, fuel terminals-adjacent retail, and industrial projects nationwide, prepared with the same fully linked models and stress discipline as every Wert-Berater engagement. Independence is non-negotiable: determinations follow the evidence and are not revised under pressure, and studies are built to pass lender, agency, and third-party review without exception items.
Qualify a project. Tell us about the project and the program. We will tell you the truth about it — scope, timeline, and fee confirmed before work begins.
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