The previous Desulfurization Breakthrough post (http://desulf.blogspot.com/2020/06/breakthrough-part-2-vc-arms-of-oil.html
) highlighted a well-researched Houston Chronicle article describing the
efforts of the oil majors, through their venture capital subsidiaries, to
diversify into nontraditional areas. Basically, they are hedging their bets.
While I invite them to do so, the oil majors probably will not want to take the
time to follow this series. They have highly skilled teams working on the
problem of identifying, selecting, and vetting potential candidates.
The rest of us can benefit from their efforts.
Not only do the venture capital (VC) arms of the oil majors identify promising
startups. Their VC arms also suggest lines of technology that may benefit
non-majors … but that the non-majors may not have thought of.
For example, the Chronicle article (“Reporter’s Notebook: Oil & gas venture capital investing
autonomous vehicles, machine learning”) noted that …
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“The self-driving car startup Aurora Innovation (https://aurora.tech/ ) made headlines earlier
this year when Amazon joined a $530 million funding round to advance its
technology that aims in part to revitalize cities by reducing traffic. A less publicized investor in that round was the venture
capital arm of the oil major Royal Dutch Shell - even though
self-driving cars could mean less traffic and less gasoline consumption one
day.
“Shell is one of several big oil companies using venture capital arms to invest
in technologies - from electric vehicles to wind turbines and solar panels.-
that could eventually undercut the underlying economics of the oil and gas
industry. Yet even as oil companies hedge their bets on the future of fossil
fuels, they are still pouring millions into making oil and gas operations more
efficient and productive through new equipment and digital technologies.”
Read the full text at: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Reporter-s-Notebook-Oil-gas-venture-capital-13987223.php
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Your company may or may not be interested in investing in self-driving cars.
But you may be interested in becoming a customer of one or more of the startups
that VC arms of the oil majors have invested in.
The first thing to do is to visit the Web sites of the VC arms. Browse their
portfolios. Cogitate. Investigate. If one of the VC candidates seems to fit
your purpose, contact the company and see what they can do for you.
The point is … the oil majors have already done a lot of the work for you. Take
advantage of that.
Here are the Web sites for the VC arms of some of the oil majors. CAVEAT: I am
not qualified to offer investment advice. Due diligence, as always, should be
the rule.
Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures (https://saev.com/)
Chevron
Technology Ventures (https://www.chevron.com/technology/technology-ventures)
Shell
Technology Ventures (https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/new-energies/shell-ventures.html)
BP Ventures (https://www.bp.com/en/global/bp-ventures.html)
Total Ventures (https://www.ventures.total/en )
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Google® Better!
Jean Steinhardt served as Librarian,
Aramco Services, Engineering Division, for 13 years. He now heads Jean
Steinhardt Consulting LLC, producing the same high quality research that he
performed for Aramco.
Follow Jean’s blog at: http://desulf.blogspot.com/ for continuing tips on effective online
research
Email Jean at research@jeansteinhardtconsulting.com with questions on research, training, or
anything else
Visit Jean’s Web site at http://www.jeansteinhardtconsulting.com/ to see examples of the services we can
provide
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