Sapphire Energy has headhunted BP refining expert Cynthia J. Warner Warner -- current group cice president of global refining for BP -- to join a team of experts in transportation fuels, cell biology, plant genomics and algal production to create a commercial- scale crude oil operation using only sunlight, carbon dioxide and non-potable water.

Under Warner's leadership, Sapphire Energy will begin transitioning technology trials and research into the company's actual production of the 'green crude,' -- the environmental and economically wiser option for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Sapphire Energy is an energy exploration and production company that uses a proprietary technology to create green crude, a renewable liquid fuel, similar to light sweet crude, which can be refined into carbon-neutral transportation fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel.

Sapphire Energy was founded to address the inadequacies of some biofuel approaches. The company has built a revolutionary platform using sunlight, CO2 and microorganisms such as algae to produce renewable fuel products -- gasoline, jet fuel and diesel that meet ASTM standards.

"Sapphire Energy's development of a sustainable, carbon neutral gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from algae is progressing and we now need a top energy industry executive with the expertise to bring new fuel products to market in this complex industry," said Jason Pyle, Sapphire Energy CEO. "Warner will be a tremendous asset as we bring green crude to commercial scale in the next five years. We founded Sapphire to create the perfect fuel, knowing that we'd build a world-class team along the way. With C.J., we've found our next star."

A chemical engineer by training, and one of the very few senior women in the oil and gas industry, Warner has spent 27 years as an oil industry executive beginning with UOP and Amoco Oil Company before moving to BP in 1998. With BP, her leadership roles included oversight of operations in five continents.

"Joining Sapphire to help create a new and scalable source of energy to fuel the world's needs is the perfect challenge. Pioneering a new energy frontier for the next industrial era is the best way I can imagine to make a positive impact as a leader," describes Cynthia (C.J.) Warner.