Vitol intends to take a minority equity stake in Waga Energy, the European leader in renewable natural gas recovery from landfill waste, as part of the equity sale associated with Waga Energy’s current IPO on Paris Euronext.
In addition, Vitol and Waga Energy have signed a binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in relation to a strategic marketing arrangement. For the next five years, Vitol and Waga Energy will cooperate on all new projects in Europe and Vitol will get a right of first refusal on all future volumes and enter into 10-year renewable gas purchase contracts for these projects as they come online.
Vitol’s investment in Waga Energy is aligned with its core strategy of building strategic relationships with leading green energy producers to participate in the development of green energy product markets. Vitol anticipates that demand for renewable natural gas will increase as Europe seeks a practical and timely means of reducing its carbon footprint. This transaction complements Vitol’s recent acquisition of Liquind, a leading European gas-for-transport company.
As part of the marketing arrangement, Vitol will take the renewable natural gas to market, via the pipeline grid and LNG, thereby replacing fossil fuel gas with gas generated from waste and reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and methane releases from landfill.
Pablo Galante Escobar, Head of LNG and Gas and Power EMEA, Vitol said: “We are delighted and proud to build this strategic relationship with Waga, with a view to using by-products of waste. Waga’s proprietary technology enables waste landfill gas to be turned into high quality biomethane that can be directly injected into the grid or used for transportation. Waga’s unique model contributes to net-zero in two ways: it captures landfills gas, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, and produces a renewable substitute for fossil-based natural gas. We look forward to deploying Vitol’s capital and market expertise to accelerate the implementation of this unique technology.”
Two billion tonnes of waste are generated annually, 70% of which ends up in landfill. Over a 20 year period, landfill waste emits methane, a gas with a warming potential 84 times greater than CO2. The first simple, efficient and economically viable solution to landfill emissions has been developed by Waga which uses proprietary technology to capture, treat and inject this waste gas into the grid.
Vitol is committed to investing in the energy transition. It is a significant investor in renewables, with over $1 billion capital committed to renewable power projects. It has also successfully invested in biogas in the US.