MOTOR OIL (HELLAS) DIILISTIRIA KORINTHOU A.E.

Their core work

Motor Oil Hellas is one of Greece's largest petroleum refining companies, operating major refinery infrastructure near Corinth. Through H2020 participation, the company is actively investing in its energy transition — deploying CO2 capture technologies at industrial scale, integrating renewable energy into refinery operations, and piloting smart grid and energy efficiency solutions. Their project portfolio reveals a fossil fuel incumbent systematically building capabilities in decarbonization, distributed energy, and data-driven energy services to future-proof its operations.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Motor Oil's H2020 journey shows a clear trajectory from hardware-oriented decarbonization toward digital and service-based energy models. Early projects (2018-2019) concentrated on physical technologies — CO2 capture with advanced materials, solar thermal integration, geothermal systems, and distributed PV deployment. By 2020, the focus shifted decisively toward software-driven approaches: AI-powered grid management, blockchain-based energy trading, data-driven business models, and smart home energy services. This mirrors the broader energy sector's digital transformation, but is particularly striking for a petroleum refiner actively building post-fossil-fuel competencies.

Motor Oil is building toward becoming a digitally-enabled energy services company, moving beyond refining into distributed energy management and data-driven business models.

How they like to work

Motor Oil participates exclusively as a consortium partner, never as coordinator — consistent with a large industrial company contributing real-world infrastructure and use cases rather than leading research agendas. With 157 unique partners across 8 projects, they operate in large consortia (averaging ~20 partners per project), typical of Innovation Actions where industrial demonstration sites are essential. Their value to consortia lies in providing a major industrial facility as a testing ground for new technologies.

Extensive European network spanning 157 unique partners across 26 countries, reflecting participation in large-scale Innovation Action consortia. As a Greek industrial heavyweight, they connect Southern European energy infrastructure with technology providers across the continent.

What sets them apart

Motor Oil offers something rare in H2020 consortia: a major petroleum refinery willing to serve as a real-world testbed for clean energy and decarbonization technologies. While many energy projects struggle to find industrial-scale demonstration sites, Motor Oil brings operational refinery infrastructure where CO2 capture, smart grid integration, and energy efficiency solutions can be validated under actual industrial conditions. For consortium builders, they represent a credible industrial end-user with genuine skin in the energy transition game.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CARMOF
  Largest single EC contribution (EUR 367,846) — developing next-generation CO2 capture using metal-organic frameworks and carbon nanotubes, directly applicable to refinery emissions.
• SPARCs
  Longest-running project (2019-2024) covering the full renewable energy stack — solar thermal, geothermal, distributed PV, EV charging, and battery second-life applications.
• SYNERGY
  Represents the company's digital frontier — combining AI, blockchain, and multi-party computation for energy-as-a-service, signaling a strategic shift toward data-driven energy business models.