The rebranding of BP

Résumé du document

Founded in 1908 as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, BP has transformed itself from the humble beginning of a local oil company into a global energy group. Its operations are well established in six continents, with the sale of its products in over 100 countries (Christiansen). Upstream, BP is active in 26 countries with production activities in 22 countries, while downstream, its assets include 19 refineries and 28, 500 service stations worldwide. Due to these reasons, BP is one of the four "vertically integrated private sector oil, natural gas, and petrol super majors in the world" (Wikipedia).

The following figures from the 2005 annual report are a general indication of the size and scope of BP's operations:

-2.6 million barrels of oil produced daily
-5.8 million barrels of oil refined daily
-Profit of $19.3 Billion
-Total assets of 207 Billion
-96,200 employees

Its origins date back to the early 20th century with the discovery of oil deposits in Persia (now Iran), which led to the formation of the Anglo-Persia Oil Company. Following Iranian nationalization, BP was forced to look beyond the Middle East to the USA, and the North Sea, and it is largely this strategic move which helped it survive the oil shock of the 1970s. In 1954 the Anglo-Persia Oil Company was renamed British Petroleum, and then from the mid-1970s, BP pursed a diversification strategy which led to the inclusion of new business areas, such as minerals, coal and chemicals. Towards the late 1980s, BP decided to change its strategy, concentrating efforts on its core activities in petroleum and chemicals.

Extraits

[...] During recent years, the oil corporation continued to make progress in lowering the output of carbon emission through constructing wind farms in the Netherlands, manufacturing environmentally friendly fuels, improving the quality of engine lubricants, as well as research and development of bio fuel (BP and climate change: Sustainable transportation 1996-2006). In 2005, BP established their Alternative Energy business with the aim to invest in cleaner power generated from solar, wind, gas, and hydrogen sources (BP p.l.c. 2005). Integration Each major strategic business segment forms an integral part of bps vertically integrated supply chain. [...]

[...] The rebranding of BP Company background Founded in 1908 as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, bp has transformed itself from the humble beginnings of a local oil company into a global energy group. Its operations are well established in six continents, with its products for sale in over 100 countries (Christiansen). Upstream, bp is active in 26 countries, with production activities in 22 countries, while downstream, its assets include 19 refineries and service stations worldwide. For these reasons, bp is one of four “vertically integrated private sector oil, natural gas, and petrol supermajors in the world” (wickipedia). [...]

[...] Implementation of Cultural Change A new facilities change program was introduced in 2000 by BP Global Property Management to assist in facilitating cultural change. Effectively, the program was developed to ensure the right environment was created for cultural change by making employees feel they were apart of the BP environment, no matter which office in the world they walked into. The program was monitored by a system consisting of KPI's to ensure that it was being implemented globally and to the same standard. The KPI's measure the efficiency and effectiveness of the workspace. [...]

[...] BP has faced criticism that their corrosion control and pipeline maintenance programs have been inadequate for a number of years, which arguably lead to an inevitable spill at Prudhoe Bay. An independent assessment by Coffman Engineers in November 2001 concluded that the reporting style and corrosion control systems in place at the time ‘made it difficult to develop a qualitative understanding of the basis and underlying strategies employed by BP Alaska”[1] Further, the inadequacy of BP's control systems has been highlighted following the Texas refinery explosion, which killed 15 employees and injured a further 500. [...]

[...] As a result controls systems have now been revised to make sure bp doesn't suffer any more loses or incur anymore tarnishing to its reputation. Bp has also learned through its successes. Many of the projects bp has undertaken in pursuit of vertical integration have been successful. Now, bp has several more projects currently in formulation or in development, which are designed to promote overall growth and add to shareholder value. The future is never certain. However, if concerns regarding the environment and political instability continue to materialize, bp may be compelled to act, so that its business doesn't suffer. [...]