Midland-based Diamondback Energy, through subsidiary Cottonmouth Ventures, is making a $20 million equity investment in Verde Clean Fuels, renewable energy company with technology that captures flared natural gas and converts it into gasoline. Verde Clean Fuels, business combination of CENAQ Energy and Bluescape Clean Fuels, developed and owns proprietary syngas-to-gasoline technology designed to produce renewable gasoline using waste feedstocks. Verde’s process produces a lower carbon gasoline from flared or economically disadvantaged natural gas.
Ernie Miller, co-founder and CEO of Verde, said Feb. 15, “Traditional gasoline used today is refined from crude oil and makes up over half of greenhouse gas emissions produced by the U.S. transportation sector. Our proprietary STG+ system will enable everyday consumers of gasoline to seamlessly and materially participate in the decarbonization of our atmosphere without changing their automobiles or fueling habits.” He said replacing conventional hydrocarbon-based gasoline with Verde’s renewable gasoline would compare to removing 6 of every 10 cars on the road today.
Diamondback reportedly is working to get its first plant active with Verde’s syngas-to-gasoline technology to mitigate the flaring of natural gas while also producing a high-margin product. Kaes Van’t Hof, president, said, “Diamondback is excited to announce our equity investment in and partnership with Verde, which is our largest investment to date out of our new ventures subsidiary Cottonmouth. We are looking forward to expanding the Verde business into the Permian Basin with their proprietary STG+ technology. This investment and the technology that accompanies it fits with our strategy to decarbonize the oil field while generating an economic return for our investors.”