ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the collaboration agreement, BP also made an equity investment in Synthetic Genomics, Inc. (SGI). It examines Asiatic Centre for Genome Technology (ACGT) and Tan Sri Lim Thay, the chairman and CEO of Asiatic Development Bhd, made equity investments in SGI as part of the joint venture arrangement. Representing a huge vote of confidence in J. Craig Venter's work and the need to move away from feedstocks that compete with food production, such as corn, in July 2009, ExxonMobil Corp., one of the world's most sophisticated energy firms, announced a partnership with SGI. The firm partners with ExxonMobil and BP on projects that seek to use synthetic biology to make cheap, cleaner fuels from algae and coal-bed methane. In June 2007, SGI and BP formed a multiyear research and development collaboration and commercialization joint venture to develop and bring to market microbial-enhanced solutions to increase the conversion and recovery of subsurface hydrocarbons, including coal, petroleum, and natural gas.
