BP bets USD 10m on US biofuels firm WasteFuel

British oil and gas major BP Plc (LON:BP) has agreed to invest USD-10-million (EUR 9.20m) into US renewable fuels maker WasteFuel Global LLC to help it advance a plan to build its first waste-to-bio-methanol plant in the UAE.

The bet was made through the British firm’s investment arm and came as part of the first close of a Series B financing round led by bp ventures, the companies said in separate statements on Thursday.

BP and WasteFuel have also entered into a broader biofuel partnership. They have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the oil major to offtake the produced bio-methanol and have also agreed on a technical collaboration to improve bio-methanol production efficiency, yields and economics.

Los Angeles, California-based WasteFuel plans to establish a global network of plants to convert municipal and agricultural waste into bio-methanol, starting with a facility in the UAE.

The US firm was founded by Trevor Neilson and Alejandro Estrada and launched by London-listed energy transition investment company i(x) Net Zero PLC.

Apart from BP, WasteFuel counts among its backers Maersk, which more than a year ago agreed to buy more than 30,000 tonnes of bio-methanol annually from the US firm. Other investors in the business also include NetJets, Prime Infra, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, Guy Oseary and Aileen Getty.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.920)

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