UK-based corrosion prevention company Lux Assure has raised £3.25m ($5m) from a corporate venturing-led consortium to “transform the business from a technology development business to a service provider for the oil and gas industry”.
US-based oil major ConocoPhillips, Norway-based peer Statoil’s Technology Invest unit, angel network Archangel Informal Investment, and the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB), a division of state-owned Scottish Enterprise provided the £3.25m.
Since 2010, Archangels and SIB have invested £800,000m in Lux, a division of Lux Innovate, and the company, along with Heriot-Watt University, in November gained £73,000 from the government-backed Technology Strategy Board to test the feasibility of a novel technology for monitoring produced water for reinjection.
Laurence Ormerod, chairman of Lux, which last year said it wanted to hire a chief executive and raise £2m to £3m, said: “This major investment will allow Lux to capitalise on the excellent chemical monitoring products developed by the company. [Our] CoMic and Ommica products have been very well received by the industry so this seems to be an appropriate time to dedicate the company to growing sales, both within the UK and overseas. We are delighted to have ConocoPhillips and Statoil as new shareholders.”
Jan Ellevset, investment director at Statoil Technology Invest, added: “Statoil Technology Invest is constantly looking for exciting new technology that can improve our operations and where our investment will help speed up the commercialisation process, Lux Assure fits the bill.”
By email he added that “Statoil has not yet started using the two mentioned products [CoMic and Ommica]”.
Ram Shenoy, chief technology officer of ConocoPhillips, said: “ConocoPhillips is proud to be investing alongside Statoil and the existing shareholders in Lux Assure, a company with promising technologies.”