By Sarah McBride
SAN FRANCISCO, March 26 (Reuters) - BP Ventures willcontinue to expand beyond alternative energy to more mainstreamenergy investments, said Issam Dairanieh, BP Ventures' directorof global ventures.
The venture arm of the oil and gas giant BP made itsfirst refining and processing investment two years ago and itsfirst exploration and production investment last year, Dairaniehtold Reuters in a telephone interview.
The moves represent a broadening for BP Ventures, which wasfounded in 2006 with the goal of alternative-energy investing.
"In general the support the industry needs is not only moneythat may come from financial venture-capital groups, but it alsohas to be about people who know how to scale technologies,"Dairanieh said, referring to start-ups in the energy sector."People like us are able to take a big role."
Like many venture firms, BP Ventures invests around broaderinvestment theses related to market trends. One big thesis hasbeen water issues, leading to discussions with a water companythat he declined to identify because negotiations are ongoing.
BP Ventures has not yet invested in companies that can tapinto the natural-gas boom, but plans to once it finds the rightfit, Dairanieh said.
Since 2006, it has invested in more than 30 companies,including its single biggest investment a biofuels company hedeclined to name.
The portfolio company he believes that is closest to an"exit", meaning the company could be acquired or undergo aninitial public offering, is solar company Brightsource. Itpreviously filed for an IPO but pulled it last year due todifficult market conditions in the sector.
Parent company BP decided to exit the solar business in late2011, but BP Ventures is sticking with it, Dairanieh said. (Reporting by Sarah McBride; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)
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