Oil and gas giant Phillips 66 (PSX.US) convicted of stealing trade secrets will pay more than 600 million US dollars

The Zhitong Finance App learned that a California court jury ruled on Wednesday that Phillips 66 (PSX.US), one of the US oil and gas giants, was awarded compensation of up to 604.9 million US dollars to Propel Fuel for stealing trade secrets from Propel Fuel to enhance its renewable fuel business.

According to information, a jury from Oakland agreed with Propel's allegation that Houston-based Phillips 66 stole the company's trade secrets under the guise of gathering information on potential acquisitions and then used those secrets to create competitive businesses.

According to media reports, a Propel spokesperson confirmed the award. A Phillips 66 spokesperson said the company was very disappointed with the verdict but was still confident in the case and would “carefully evaluate all of our future legal options.”

Sacramento-based Propel specializes in research on low-emission gasoline and diesel fuels. According to its lawsuit, Phillips 66 approached Propel as early as 2017 to acquire the company and scale up its renewable fuel business in California, which encourages the production and sale of fossil fuel alternatives with low carbon rules.

According to Propel, Phillips 66 suddenly announced its exit from the deal in 2018 and began selling its own renewable fuel products in 2019. Propel sued oil and gas giant Phillips 66 in Alameda County court in 2022, accusing the company of unlawfully using trade secrets, including financial data and business strategies shared by the small company during confidential negotiations between the two parties.

“Phillips 66 is making multi-billion dollar bets on the California renewable fuel market, but these were founded on the premise of Propel's trade secrets,” Propel said in the lawsuit. “Not only did Phillips 66 not sell any renewable fuels until it received confidential information from Propel, it was completely ignorant of the business.”

Phillips 66 is a traditional energy company headquartered in the United States, mainly engaged in refining, petrochemicals, and a wider range of midstream businesses. Its business covers the production, refining, transportation, chemical manufacturing and sales of petroleum, natural gas or LNG. It has long focused on traditional energy sources such as oil and gas. In recent years, it has begun to lay out renewable energy businesses, but on a very small scale.