LNG giant Shell has completed its previously announced deal worth nearly $2 billion to buy 100 percent shareholding of Denmark-based biogas producer Nature Energy Biogas.
Shell Petroleum NV, a unit of Shell, bought the largest producer of biomethane or renewable natural gas (RNG) in Europe from Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Pioneer Point Partners, and Sampension.
Nature Energy will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell, initially under its existing brand, according to Shell.
The company owns and operates 14 industrial scale biomethane plants and an international development pipeline of about 30 plants across Europe and North America. The company’s current production reaches around 6.5 million MMBtu/year (3,000 boe/day).
Nature Energy also has a pipeline of around 30 new plant projects in Europe and North America.
More than a third of these projects are in medium to late development stage in Denmark, the Netherlands, and France, and could deliver up to 9.2 mln MMBtu/yr (4,400 boe/d) by 2030, Shell said.
Shell also has an existing RNG trading portfolio in Europe, to which this acquisition will add new volumes and support its efforts to transition its growing European LNG customer base to bio-LNG, with supply intended to span road, marine, and other customers, Shell said.
This acquisition supports Shell’s ambitions to build an integrated RNG value chain at global scale and to profitably grow its low-carbon offerings to customers across multiple sectors, the firm said.
“Nature Energy is a cash generative business, and the acquisition is expected to be accretive to Shell’s earnings from completion and to deliver double digit returns,” it said.
Also, Shell said it will generate additional value in its unsurpassed customer access and global scale in its trading and supply chain positions.