A focus shift has been taking place among oil and gas corporate venturers, which is borne out in our most recent research.
Most disclosed deals by oil and gas corporate venturers went into emerging enterprises from non-core areas, primarily in cleantech and IT, as well as transport and mobility. It is precisely those which have the potential to be the most disruptive to oil and gas companies.
Low-carbon energy technologies may replace or substantially affect the market share of fossil fuels. Mobility and transport tech like autonomous and electric vehicles, for example, may affect a considerable part of the ultimate customer base of oil and gas companies.
We also see an increasing digitisation of industrial activities, which exerts tangible impact over production and efficiency.
Many oil and gas corporate venturers have focused on investing in disrupted mobility and transport and in emerging energy that comes from renewable and sustainable sources.
As valuations in these areas of innovation have been growing in recent times, the average deal size of deals has expectedly risen. In fact, during the first three quarters of 2019, we tracked a total of 68 deals down by the broader peer group of oil and gas corporates that were worth an estimated $2.32bn, already well above the total estimated
dollar value of the 80 deals from 2018 – $1.93bn.
