Energy Capital Group (ECG), a private global investment firm focused on energy and energy-related corporate investments, has made a joint strategic investment with Bill Gates in NEOS GeoSolutions, Inc., a Houston, US-based provider of exploration solutions to clients in the onshore oil & gas and mining industries. The investment has a total value of $60 million. ECG and Gates joined an existing group of blue chip investors in NEOS including Goldman Sachs, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Passport Capital. NEOS has already invested approximately $100 million to develop a proprietary technology, NeoSphere, capable of helping natural resources companies better understand and plan where to explore, lease and drill. NEOS expects that its technologies can help to revolutionize natural resource exploration. Through the ability to record more measurements with greater precision from the earth's surface and subsurface and through the provision of 3D images that are more accurate than conventional subsurface imaging techniques, NEOS can help companies significantly reduce the time and cost incurred in the exploration process and speed up the development of new sources of energy and other natural materials. Ali Abdulaziz AlTurki, founding partner and CEO of ECG, has joined the Board of NEOS, where he and ECG will work closely with the company and its management to meet and maximize NEOS' vast potential. This includes supporting efforts to further develop the company's technologies and services, delivery capacity to clients worldwide and general corporate growth initiatives, including expansion and the development of opportunities in the MENA region where ECG's network, track record and the strength and experience of its shareholders can add considerable value. ECG's shareholders, comprised of Rawabi Holding Company, ATCO, Al Muhaidib Group and Al-Ansari Holding Company, are among the Middle East's largest energy services and industrial investment groups. AlTurki said: “ECG is committed to investing in services companies and technologies that support the further development of the energy sector and we are confident that the services NEOS provides will become the standard for world-class companies seeking to identify hydrocarbons and minerals in the subsurface of the earth in an effective and efficient way in order to maximize output and returns. We are working closely with NEOS in the further development and commercialization of its services around the world.”
