MIDLAND, Texas — Diamondback Energy recently put forth a $20 million equity investment towards Verde Clean Fuels – a renewable energy company with technology that can capture natural gas that is wasted during flaring and turn it into gasoline.
Diamondback made that commitment as it views Verde’s technology as a unique way to tackle the industry-wide issue that is flaring.
Diamondback is excited to partner with Verde and is looking to get a plant up soon.
“The amount of cost improvements as well as technology improvements in this business continues to astound me, and I think that gives me a lot of hope for this business and the Permian [Basin] to be an engine for oil production for a very long time," said Kaes Van't Hof, President and CFO of Diamondback Energy.
As innovation continues to improve the oil and gas industry, Diamondback has taken a step forward to try and reduce it’s carbon footprint.
“It kind of fit with Diamondback’s strategy to try to decarbonize the oilfield and make our barrels here in the Permian [Basin] the lowest cost and lowest emission barrels in the world.”
The energy company is currently working on getting it’s first plant active with Verde’s syngas-to-gasoline plus technology, or "STG+," a reality that would cut down on flaring while adding jobs and revenue.
“We need a good location, we need a steady supply of gas to make it happen and also need to make sure the economics work for us and our partners, and we have the capital to put to work," said Van't Hof.
Van’t Hof says they don’t want to flare as burning that gas means losing money.
He believes the Permian Basin has done a good job of trying to decrease it, and with this being an industry-wide problem, it has been a collaborative effort for businesses.
“The large companies actually are working together very well on this issue," said Van't Hof. "I think we see environmental performance as an industry issue – not just a Diamondback issue or a competitor’s issue – so in a lot of ways, unlike drilling and completing wells, we do share a lot of information when it comes to environmental performance and what’s working and what shareholders are saying, and so I think that, that generally means an industry that’s going to move forward together.”
Van’t Hof said this is only the first of many investments as they learn of more opportunities to reduce their carbon footprint.
As efforts continue to decarbonize the oilfield, he also mentioned that they hope to build a couple of plants utilizing Verde’s technology.