Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc., a company led by businessman Enrique Razon Jr., on Friday welcomed the significant investment by energy giant Bp in sustainable fuels company WasteFuel Global.
Prime Infra, the infrastructure arm of the Razon Group with operations in waste management, energy and water, has been part of WasteFuel Global since 2021.
Bp’s corporate venture capital arm, bp ventures, announced an investment of $10 million in WasteFuel to develop plants around the world that will convert municipal and agricultural waste into bio-methanol.
“We are proud to be part of WasteFuel Global and to collaborate with industry leaders that tackle waste challenges and drive the decarbonization of the transport sector. Bp’s investment in alternative fuel technology is a significant step in decarbonizing the shipping industry and in shaping the future of a more sustainable maritime transportation,” said Prime Infra president and chief executive and WasteFuel director Guillaume Lucci.
Prime Infra earlier formed a 60-40 partnership with WasteFuel to establish a subsidiary, WasteFuel Philippines, to develop bio-refinery facilities in the Philippines.
“Prime Infra’s current waste management business is focused on resource recovery, with plans to convert waste to fuel products through WasteFuel Philippines,” said Lucci.
“These form part of Prime Infra’s decarbonization goals and strategy to deploy innovative technologies to address the Philippines’ waste problem. The objective remains to maximize resource recovery and minimize the amount of waste to be disposed onsite,” he said.
WasteFuel Philippines eyes its first operational sustainable fuels project by 2025.
Bp ventures vice president Gareth Burns said WasteFuel projects aim to help with the growing volumes of global waste while advancing the development of lower carbon solutions for hard-to-abate sectors.
“Achieving decarbonization in shipping will require a step-change, and biofuels have a key role to play in helping the industry to decarbonize. We look forward to working together on WasteFuel’s next stage of growth and market development,” Burns said.