Chevron & Brightmark Join Forces for New Renewable Natural Gas Initiative

SAN RAMON, Calif. — Chevron U.S.A. Inc. formed a joint venture with Brightmark LLC to boost its efforts around renewable natural gas (RNG).

The partnership, Brightmark RNG Holdings LLC, will own projects across the United States to produce and market dairy biomethane, an RNG.

Equity investments by each company in the new venture will fund construction of infrastructure and commercial operation of dairy biomethane projects in multiple states. Chevron will purchase RNG produced from these projects and market the volumes for use in vehicles operating on compressed natural gas.

Marathon Capital acted as exclusive financial advisor to Brightmark in establishing the partnership with Chevron. 

"Chevron is committed to improving how affordable, reliable, ever-cleaner energy is developed and delivered, investing in companies addressing [greenhouse gas] emissions and progressing lower-carbon technologies," said Andy Walz, president of Americas Products for Chevron.

"We are increasing renewables in support of our business, making targeted investments and establishing partnerships as we evaluate emerging sources of energy and the role they will play in our portfolio," he added. "This investment builds on our other RNG initiatives, such as our joint venture with California Bioenergy and our Adopt-a-Port initiative with Clean Energy Fuels. We are excited about the long-standing experience Brightmark has in this area and look forward to working with them and the opportunities ahead."  

Last month, Chevron teamed with California Bioenergy LLC and local dairy farmers to achieve the first RNG production from dairy farms in Kern County, Calif. This advances the companies' goal of providing affordable, reliable and cleaner energy to California consumers, as Convenience Store News previously reported.

"Our mission at Brightmark is to reimagine waste by creating innovative solutions like RNG projects," said Bob Powell, CEO and founder of Brightmark, a global waste solutions company with a mission to reimagine waste.

"This joint venture is a powerful partnership that will accelerate Brightmark's ambition to achieve a global net-zero carbon future. It is imperative that Brightmark develop these lifecycle carbon negative projects all over the world, and this is a huge step forward in that process," Powell said. "Our RNG projects also deliver a true 'win-win' in terms of driving sustainable agriculture with  significantly less waste and improving economic development in rural communities." 

Chevron U.S.A. Inc. is a subsidiary of San Ramon-based Chevron Corp., one of the world's largest integrated energy companies. It is active in more than 180 countries.