BP Makes First Foray Into Israel With Battery Startup Deal

BP Plc made its first foray into Israel this week with a $20 million investment in quick-charging battery firm StoreDot Ltd., and is on the hunt for more opportunities there, a senior executive at the energy giant’s venture-capital arm said. With global energy demand surging, the StoreDot move is part of BP’s push into cleaner sources, even as it continues developing its traditional oil and gas businesses, David Gilmour, vice president of BP Ventures Llc, said Wednesday. “We need to understand how we can move into alternatives to hydrocarbons where they exist,” Gilmour said on the sidelines of the Ecomotion smart-mobility summit in Tel Aviv.