BP Ventures is expected to plough more than 90% of its spending between 2023 and 2026 into disruptive green technology start-ups.
That's up about 30% of its ventures spending historically, although the oil and gas giant didn't disclose the total budget.
However, it is expected that around $200million will be invested this year, and the eventual outlay over the four years would be comparable to the total sum BP Ventures has invested in the previous 17 years since it was founded.
The search for start-ups and promise of increased investment is getting underway as the business steps up its exposure to the energy transition.
Gareth Burns, head of BP Ventures, told The Times this should result in his division spending at least 60% more in the transition businesses than it had to date.
"We’ve refreshed our investment strategy this year and we’re looking to significantly step up our activity in support of delivering upon BP’s strategy," he said.
"Investing in start-ups is a great way of giving us insight into what some of the future disruptive opportunities may be."
Burns, 50, who joined BP from Equinor, of Norway, at the start of this year, said it was looking to back "start-ups that are developing new technologies that have the potential to scale reasonably quickly, that are looking for an energy company to participate and help them in that development and will help to deliver the energy transition that we are on."
BP reported record profits of $28billion last year, and had total capital expenditure of $16.3billion, of which $4.9billion was in its transition growth businesses.
It expects that to rise to between $6million and $8million by 2025.