BP bags stake in Saltworks

Oil and gas giant, BP, has taken a stake in Canadian water treatment company, Saltworks Technologies, through its technology investment arm BP Ventures.

Vancouver-based Saltworks focuses on “challenging water sources” typically found in shale gas, oil sands, and mining. Its product include ion exchange membranes. “Saltworks has developed cost-effective and robust desalination systems for the world’s most demanding applications which require freshwater from highly impaired saline water sources,” the company claims.

BP’s investment in Saltworks follows similar moves by other companies, including Cenovus Energy, ConocoPhillips, and Teck Resources. The investment also comes after “successful test projects” between BP and Saltworks.

Saltworks’ chief executive officer, Benjamin Sparrow, said: “BP’s investment will immediately go to work as we construct our new manufacturing facility and further grow our field operations team. After successful product uptake in Australia, California,Texas, and Pennsylvania, we are extremely pleased to welcome BP to our shareholder base. BP’s investment will increase our scale and our reach.”


According to BP Ventures its focus is on emerging, strategic technologies for oil and gas exploration and production, and downstream technologies including fuels and chemicals, biotech and bioenergy. It has 30 investments with committed capital of over US$200 million the company said.