BP 2012 Annual Report Download - page 60

Business review: BP in more depth
BP Annual Report and Form 20-F 2012
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energy consumption. To date, the initiative has sponsored hundreds
of energy projects ranging from unconventional sources of
hydrocarbons to renewables and nuclear fusion.
Energy Technologies Institute (ETI)
BP is a founding member of the UK’s Energy Technologies Institute – a
public/private partnership established in 2008 to accelerate lower-carbon
technology development. By the end of 2012 the ETI had commissioned
more than $281 million of work covering 41 projects across a wide range
of technologies.
Upstream
Our upstream technologies support BP’s business strategy by:
t Focusing on safety and operational risks.
t Helping to obtain new access.
t Increasing recovery and reserves.
t Improving production efficiency.
Our strengths in exploration, deep water, giant fields and gas are
underpinned by dedicated flagship technology programmes. These
undertake proprietary scientific research to develop industry-leading
technologies such as imaging, enhanced recovery and real-time data
capabilities. (See Upstream technology flagships on page 18.)
In 2012:
t We began construction of a new HPC centre in Houston, our laboratory
for processing and analysing seismic images. BP’s investment in the
new 110,000 square foot (10,209 square metres) facility will help drive
seismic imaging beyond the methods we know today, extending BP’s
scientific and technical capability. The facility is due for completion in
mid-2013.
t The BP Well Advisor suite of technologies aims to bring wells online
more efficiently and enhance safety through providing real-time
information for decision making. A major programme is under way to
develop and deploy BP Well Advisor tools, from casing running, already
installed in Azerbaijan, to BOP monitoring in Brazil, cementing in the
North Sea and pressure testing in the Gulf of Mexico. These integrated
systems provide consoles for the rig crew and onshore engineers to
monitor operations in real-time, during well construction and over the
life of the well. BP has selected Kongsberg as vendor for the consoles,
which will provide a standard interface for drilling teams across the
world. In 2012 we continued industry-first field trials of our BOP
diagnostic tool on the Ensco DS4 rig offshore Brazil. This technology
has been shared with the industry and with the US Bureau of Safety
and Environmental Enforcement.
t In February 2012 we announced the launch of Project 20K, a multi-year
initiative to develop next-generation systems and tools to help recover
high-pressure, high-temperature deepwater oil and gas resources. We
intend to develop technologies over the next decade in four key areas:
well intervention and containment; well design and completions; drilling
rigs, riser and BOP equipment; and subsea production systems. In
November 2012 we awarded the first contracts for Project 20K to KBR
and FMC Technologies. KBR will develop programme execution and
management plans, including capital cost and schedule estimates, risk
assessments and technical designs. FMC Technologies will participate
in a technology development agreement in which it will work jointly
with BP to design and develop 20,000 pounds per square inch rated
subsea production equipment, including a subsea production tree and a
subsea high integrity pressure protection system.
t BP announced a plan to deploy its LoSal enhanced oil recovery (EOR)
technology at the Clair Ridge development in the UK North Sea. This
will be the first large-scale offshore deployment of this BP enhanced oil
recovery application. The $7.6-billion development at Clair Ridge
includes around $120 million for the desalination facilities to create low
salinity water. BP estimates that this breakthrough technology (part of
BP’s suite of Designer Water EOR technologies) will increase
production by around 42 million barrels of additional oil, compared with
conventional waterflooding methods. BP has also confirmed that Mad
Dog phase 2 project in the Gulf of Mexico will be the next offshore
deployment of LoSal.
t In collaboration with GE and Oceaneering, we completed BP’s first
full-field trial of shallow water subsea digital radiography technology
(DRT) in the Madoes field in the UK North Sea. This technology
employs imaging technology similar to that used in the medical field,
adapted for use in marine environments for improved inspection of
subsea flow lines up to 2,000 feet below the surface. BP also
collaborated with JME, Oceaneering and GE in developing an
alternative technology for use in the inspection of subsea flow lines
located in deep water.
Downstream
Our Downstream technology focus is both operational and customer
facing:
t Developing and applying technology to monitor operational integrity.
t Improving process efficiency in our refineries and petrochemicals
plants.
t Optimizing conversion of unconventional feedstocks, including
renewables, to liquid transport fuels and chemicals.
t Creating high-performance, energy-efficient, cleaner fuels and
lubricants for customers.
Petrochemicals
t Our proprietary processing technologies and operational experience
continue to reduce the manufacturing costs and environmental impact
of our plants, helping to maintain competitive advantage in PTA, PX and
acetic acid. For the first time, we have licensed our latest generation
aromatics technology to non-affiliated third parties; firstly PTA
technology to JBF Petrochemicals, and secondly PX technology to
Reliance through our exclusive licensor, CB&I Lummus, both in India.
Lubricants
t We completed a number of product developments and launches.
Castrol EDGE with Titanium is proven to reduce metal to metal contact
and delivering enhanced protection under extreme conditions and
Castrol Magnatec Hybrid tackles the challenges of engines working
with hybrid and stop/start powertrains. We also launched an oil
co-engineered with Ford during the development of its newly-released
EcoBoost™ engine. This oil delivers a benefit of around 1% to fuel
economy. In the commercial transport sector, we launched an updated
Castrol CRB product, which offers enhanced protection and durability
for truck engines. The launch of our new Performance Biolubes product
range added bio-based lubricants for use in metalworking operations,
improving productivity, safety and environmental impact.
Fuels
t We demonstrated our biofuels proprietary technology and collaboration
by providing three specially formulated advanced biofuels (containing
bio-derived components including cellulosic ethanol, diesel from sugar
and biobutanol). These, blended with BP Ultimate, fuelled some of the
vehicles in the official London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
fleet. We also continue to work proactively with governments and
regulatory bodies in all countries where we operate to develop practical
and effective solutions to meet local and regional biofuel mandates.
Conversion technologies
t Veba Combi Cracking (VCC) upgrades heavy oil or coal into high-value
transport fuel by adding hydrogen and a proprietary ingredient that
prevents unwanted carbon deposits fouling equipment, making the
process more reliable. BP has a collaboration agreement on VCC with
KBR, who are promoting, marketing and licensing the technology to
third parties. In 2012, the third VCC licence with the largest capacity
was secured to implement the technology at the Nizhnekamsk refinery
in Russia.
t BP has developed a proprietary Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology and a
route to upgrade products from the FT process to transport fuel and
chemical feedstocks such as diesel, kerosene and naphtha. Having
proved this technology under commercial conditions, we and our
collaborator Davy Process Technology are actively pursuing
commercialization including licensing the technology to third parties.
Technology licensing combined with recent successful demonstrations
of improvements to both process and catalyst are underpinning the
longer-term competitiveness of our technology.