ConocoPhillips has always been a quiet leader, with technology budgets at levels swamping all but the largest venture capital organizations in cleantech. They are also quietly repositioning the company around a global energy strategy -- not just oil.

This move tracks the history of the company. I personally have a long history with the company as an advisor, and it was also one of the first IPOs I worked on in the late 1990s. While it is one of the oldest oil companies in the world, 20 years ago Phillips was not generally considered a major player in the oil industry. The current CEO, Jim Mulva, took over as chief executive about 10 years ago, and the moves it has made helped vault the company well above its historical presence.

In some respects COP is positioned to do the same thing in energy and technology more broadly. Especially given that its annual capital expenditures of $15 billion are on the same scale as the whole solar industry revenues or the global venture capital sector. In one under-reported move in the last couple of years they doubled annual technology spending to $500 million.

I had the opportunity recently to chat with Stephen Brand, COP's chief technology officer, about what all of this means. Brand told me the company fully expects that emerging technologies are needed for a successful transition from oil company to energy giant at a time when demand is scheduled to run 50 percent higher in 2030.

The company is heavily investing in an innovation center in Colorado slated to open in 2012. "In Louisville we will have a purpose-built facility where we can work to explore new and expanded research and development opportunities in upstream, downstream, environmental, renewable and alternative technologies," Brand told me. "This is also part of our push to recruit and retain top talent."

The company estimates it will invest $500 million in technologies this year -- a figure he expects to grow in the future. It has formed partnerships with Iowa State University and the U.S. Dept. of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to pursue biofuel and renewable energy research. It currently has more than 350 scientists and engineers on staff, about half of which hold Ph.D.s.

"Technology is important in every segment of our business," Brand said. "It is one of the most important tools we have for finding and producing new sources of oil and natural gas, but also for developing and delivering energy in new, more efficient ways."

He pointed to using 3-D seismic technology to detect deep undersea oil and gas deposits with minimal environmental impact. Technology also holds the potential of processing coal in an environmentally superior manner. The company also has worked with turning animal waste and vegetable oil into biofuels.

Breakthroughs in lithium-ion battery technology are helping to improve safety, power and reliability of batteries for hybrid vehicles to cut emissions and improve fuel economy. "We are rapidly scaling up the meeting growing transportation demand," Brand said.

I pointed out that Brand's title -- senior vice president for technology -- is unusual for an oil company. He said the role is meant to coordinate all of the various research taking place throughout the company.

"This focus on R&D," Brand said, "allows us to better pursue projects that help strengthen energy security and to better allocate financial resources to invest in new technologies that reduce the environmental impact of our operations."

Keep an eye on the oil companies -- they'll likely be a cleantech bellwether.

Neil Dikeman is a co-founder of Jane Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based merchant bank focused on cleantech, energy & environmental technologies, as well as CarbonFlow, a carbon market software development company. Neil also created and edits the Cleantech Blog, where a different version of this column appeared.