BP Tech Chief: Blockchain Could Give Company ‘Competitive Advantage’ – CoinDesk

By Nikhilesh De    October 3, 2017

Gas and energy giant BP believes that the use of blockchain could give it an competitive edge in the market, according to its technology head.

Speaking with The Financial Times, head of technology David Eyton struck an optimistic tone amidst work with fellow energy firms Wien Energie and Eni Trading & Shipping, who together with BP have been testing the tech on an energy trading platform developed by Canadian startup BTL. Following the conclusion of a successful trial earlier this year, the firms involved are said to be looking for more participants as part of a broader commercialization drive.

And while Eyton didn’t say whether BP is gearing up to use blockchain on a production scale, he did point to its ability to help clear transactions – a potential boon for one of the biggest companies of its kind.

“There are uses for blockchain that could give us a competitive advantage,” he told the publication. “Blockchain can be much more efficient in terms of speed and verification of transactions.”

More at: BP Tech Chief: Blockchain Could Give Company ‘Competitive Advantage’ – CoinDesk

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Blockchain technology could extend to oil and gas transportation – Houston Business Journal

The oil and gas industry has seen huge advances in the extraction of resources, thanks to cutting edge technologies like fracking. But it hasn’t exactly been a leader when it comes to digital adoption.

That could change, at least when it comes to the blockchain, the distributed ledger technology behind cryptocurrency bitcoin. Though they are slower to adopt the technology than those experimenting with it in finance and tech, some oil and gas industry players are exploring ways the technology could be used for everything from commodities trading to tracking flows coming from oil and gas fields.

More at: Blockchain technology could extend to oil and gas transportation – Houston Business Journal

Blockchain technology – the hype and the hope – Oil & Gas Financial Journal

Technology has the potential to transform business transactions

IMAGINE A CRUDE OIL producer selling its production directly to a refiner without any intermediaries and never knowing who the buyer is. Imagine the most common method of executing commodity derivative agreements is without a bank, exchange, or broker. Imagine a power plant purchasing natural gas without engaging a wholesale gas marketing company. The power plant simply purchases directly from the natural gas producer, but they never know from whom or where it is coming. Imagine the non-existence of wholesale and retail commodity marketing companies.

Imagine a power producer selling power directly to a consumer without an independent system operator, retail marketer, or utility. Imagine a midstream company managing multiple interstate pipeline interests without teams of schedulers. All of the scheduling is handled by a highly streamlined, ultra-efficient system where transactions are recorded on a single, trusted ledger that is shared with all parties to the transaction and which provides real time information and contingencies.

All of these transactions would be recorded as soon as the product changes hands. All of these transactions would be governed by self-enforcing smart contracts providing certainty of funding with automatic payment upon the collection of the appropriate sequence of approvals. No need for intermediaries. No need for Letters of Credit. No delays while documentation is physically transferred and reviewed by multiple parties.

More at: Blockchain technology – the hype and the hope – Oil & Gas Financial Journal

Blockchain-Enabled Electric Car Charging Comes to California – Greentech Media

eMotorWerks tests a distributed, peer-to-peer charging marketplace that’s like Airbnb for EVs.

A residential electric car charger spends most of its time just hanging around unused.

That underutilization looked like a opportunity to Val Miftakhov, CEO of the smart charger startup eMotorWerks. On Tuesday, the company launched a beta test of a distributed, peer-to-peer charging marketplace in California that lets drivers pay each other for use of their home chargers.

If successful, this concept could drastically expand the population of readily available EV chargers, at least in places with a high density of home charging stations. That reduces range anxiety, promoting more EV ownership and potentially generating a virtuous cycle.

For a charger company like eMotorWerks, this is part of a broader strategy to move from selling hardware alone to offering software that generates value beyond the initial purchase.

More at: Blockchain-Enabled Electric Car Charging Comes to California – Greentech Media

The blockchain technology challenging the energy world – Petroleum Economist

As companies queue up to lend their financial support, the rise of this new innovation is unstoppable

Ten utility companies have come together to support the Energy Web Foundation (EWF) in an effort to ex­tend the use of blockchain technology across the sector.

Centrica, Elia, Engie, Sempra, Shell, SP Group, Statoil, Stedin, Tokyo Elec­tric Power, and TWL have been brought together by the US’s Rocky Mountain Institute in a move that secures $2.5m in funding for the Foundation.

EWF is a partnership between Rocky Mountain Institute and blockchain technology developer Grid Singularity that aims to identify and assess prom­ising energy-use cases for the tech­nology and launch an energy-focused platform to provide the necessary functionalities at scale.

More at: The blockchain technology challenging the energy world – Petroleum Economist

Blockchain can help combat fraud and corruption in the oil and gas business – International Business Times

The oil and gas business is increasingly embracing blockchain in an era of ‘lower for longer oil prices’ which some believe is now morphing into an era of ‘lower forever’ prices.

To the uninitiated, a blockchain is akin to a digitally distributed ledger that can be replicated and spread across many nodes in a peer-to-peer network, thereby minimising the need for oversight and governance of a single ledger.

Each transaction on the ledger is recorded and added to the previous one. These additions result in a growing ‘chain’ of information.

One industry expert – Samuel Kramer, a Chicago-based at partner at Baker & McKenzie, believes blockchain holds the potential to change freshen up processes and standards in the oil business, that in the eyes of some is a bit of a laggard when it comes to digital adoption.

Speaking at the 2017 Baker & McKenzie Oil & Gas Institute in Houston, Texas, USA, Kramer said: “[Digital] Information sharing and operational transparency initiatives are integral to circular collaborative ecosystems in the oil and gas industry, and by extension in the utilities market. I believe the sector’s deployment of blockchains and smart contracts is only going to grow.”

More at: Blockchain can help combat fraud and corruption in the oil and gas business – International Business Times

Ten energy majors back global blockchain initiative – pv magazine International

Ten energy companies from nine nations have joined forces to provide $2.5 million support for the Energy Web Foundation (EWF), a global non-profit organization focused on accelerating blockchain technology across the energy sector.

Centrica plc, Elia, Engie, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Sempra Energy, SP Group, Statoil ASA, Stedin, TWL (Technical Works Ludwigshafen AG), and Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) have joined forces to support EWF, a non-profit organization whose mission is to step up the commercial deployment of blockchain technology in the energy sector.

This support provides EWF, a partnership between the Rocky Mountain Institute, an independent, U.S.-based nonprofit organization focused on driving the efficient and restorative use of resources, and Grid Singularity, a blockchain technology developer specializing in energy sector applications, with the first round of funding, which amounts to $2.5 million.

The technology behind Bitcoin has the potential to play a game-changing role by allowing millions of energy devices (such as HVAC systems, water heaters, electric vehicles, batteries, solar PV installations) to transact with each other at the distribution edge, while supporting utilities and grid operators to integrate renewable energy capacity at a much lower cost.  Blockchain reduces transaction costs by keeping a single logical copy of transaction records, and can be used to reduce the cost of utility bills or the need for working capital in wholesale market gas or electricity transactions.

More at: Ten energy majors back global blockchain initiative – pv magazine International