How is the BP Ventures portfolio built around BP Technology Outlook, where fossil and non-fossil sources of energy are bound to co-exist?
Tudor: We all know the world is changing very quickly, and no more so than in the energy sector given pricing issues, the penetration of electric vehicles and climate change. BP’s strategy is based around four pillars – shifting to gas and advantaged oil in the upstream, market-led growth in the downstream, venturing and low-carbon across multiple fronts, and modernising across the business to drive productivity.
BP Ventures invests broadly in emerging and disruptive technologies across upstream, downstream and low carbon. Since 2006, we have invested over $300m in over 40 entities, with more than 200 co-investors. Our portfolio includes more than 40% of investments in renewables and lower-carbon options, with the balance in support of our core businesses in the upstream and downstream.
Our aim is to create a portfolio of options for BP, recognising all aspects of the emerging energy world. Looking ahead, we plan to enhance our participation in venturing and low carbon. BP recently announced a commitment to invest up to $200m a year in low-carbon options in five key areas – advanced mobility, low-carbon power and energy storage, carbon management, bioproducts and digital.
What are the key challenges when investing in enterprises in the industrial sector and how does the BP Ventures team tackle them?
Howes: While different sectors can utilise the same platform technologies, the operating conditions can be significantly different. Ensuring the technology company is fully aware of our end-use requirements allows them to decide whether it is the right sector to pursue at the outset and also what provisions could be made to facilitate a transition in the future.
We may not be the ultimate adopter of the technology; this may be delivered through a service provider. Therefore, consideration needs to be given as to where and how the technology can be incorporated into the supply chain. Some technologies will require qualification for use in the industry and the process can be protracted. This is why it is important for a company to understand early on what is likely to be required.
What particular trends have you been observing in advanced materials and other industrial fields related to the energy sector?
Howes: The underlying themes are largely the same – stronger and lighter materials and also the protection of surfaces from damage by the operating environment through improved substrates and new coatings. Techniques to inspect and monitor the condition of materials in situ are increasingly important to ensure the integrity of existing infrastructure and to provide confidence in the performance of the new materials once deployed.
Battery technology is receiving a great deal of interest in terms of the composition of electrodes and electrolytes for existing batteries plus new chemistries and formats, where directionally the goals are common – to increase performance and to reduce cost.
In 2012, BP invested $100m in the International Centre for Advanced Materials (ICAM) at Manchester University, which aims to be “the leader in advanced materials research for the oil and gas industry”. What is the aim of this commitment?
Howes: The BP-ICAM was set up as a partnership with four world-leading universities – Cambridge, Manchester, Imperial College London and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with the hub located at Manchester.
The BP-ICAM is a unique industry-academia partnership in the field of advanced materials. This partnership aims to bring scientific solutions to real-world problems through the application of advanced materials to energy challenges. Through this innovative partnership BP is seeking to deepen its knowledge, broaden its capability base and develop new technologies in advanced materials.
The research is aligned to BP’s technical challenges, such as corrosion, separations and fouling. The output from the research is already being implemented within BP.
What is your most recent investment or partnership in the advanced materials realm?
Howes: A good example of our investment in advanced materials is the work of Modumetal, a US-based company with a nano-lamination technique for the electro-deposition of corrosion and wear protection layers on to steel substrates. The process provides an intimate bond with the substrate and a high-quality surface finish. The technical properties offer the prospect of improved integrity for coated components deployed in the challenging environmental conditions faced by the industry.
How are advanced materials driving the broader mobility and transport sector?
Tudor: Materials technologies have the potential to reduce manufacturing costs as well as provide enhanced sensing capability. As autonomy increases, the need for sensors, new electronic materials and innovations in this space will continue to be in demand.
For instance, light detection and ranging (lidar) technology transitioned from an essentially mechanical-based system to solid state, with Quanergy launching its lidar product. It is a technology used by autonomous vehicles to see the world around them in 3D.
With connected, autonomous and electric vehicles expected to become commonplace soon, what are the challenges and opportunities for BP down the road?
Tudor: Regardless of how people move around, they will always require some form of energy. BP is a global energy company with enormous reach across the world’s energy systems. As the world transitions to a low-carbon form energy, this creates a challenges as well as opportunities on how we participate in it and help shape this step change.
At BP, we will help drive this transition through investment, technology innovation and partnerships. Our investment in Peloton Technology, a semi-autonomous trucking company, is an example of this.
Above: Graham Howes, left, and Jonathan Tudor
