BP 2009 Annual Report Download - page 47

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BP Annual Report and Accounts 2009
Business review
Business review
Business review
•Field-of-the-FutureTM (FotF) exploits digital technologies to improve
performance and optimize production. For example, ISIS, a
proprietary system designed by BP engineers, gathers subsurface
information from wells in real time using field sensors that measure
parameters such as pressures and temperatures. ISIS has now
been deployed as a virtual flow meter and has improved production
rates at Thunder Horse and other fields. BP has deployed FotF to 35
operations using a common platform, leading the industry in this
area.
•Inherently reliable facilities – BP conducted a high reliability
chemical injection skid field trial at Wytch Farm in the UK, as part of
this flagship’s objectives of improving corrosion inhibition, extending
the life of BP’s assets and ensuring safe, reliable and efficient
operations.
In our Refining and Marketing segment, technology is delivering
performance improvements across all businesses. For example:
•Refining technology advances are enabling better understanding and
processing of feedstocks of varying quality and optimization of our
assets in real time, enhancing the flexibility and reliability of our
refineries and improving margins. The reconfiguration at Whiting
refinery to process heavier crudes is on track, incorporating
technologically advanced coking operations. BP’s Refinery-of-the-
Future programme develops and deploys state-of-the-art
measurement, monitoring and predictive technologies to improve
refinery safety, integrity, availability and utilization, and to optimize
feedstock selection and blending. For example, BP has completed
large-scale field trials of wireless, online, sensors for remote
corrosion monitoring, and deployment across our refineries is now
under way.
• BP’s leading technologies in fuels and lubricants mean that it can
keep ahead of increasingly stringent regulations, balancing greater
fuel efficiency and performance and developing superior formulations
across its entire product slate. In 2009, BP completed the launch of
Castrol EDGE Sport, a range of highly advanced synthetic engine oils
that outperform conventional, high mileage, part synthetic and
benchmark synthetic motor oils. BP’s strong relationship with Ford
has contributed to important technological advances in fuel and
lubricants products, including a joint UK Government-backed project
to improve fuel efficiency, which has achieved reductions in friction
and a significant overall reduction in fuel usage for next generation
engines.
• Our proprietary processing technologies and operational experience
continue to reduce the manufacturing costs and environmental
impact of our petrochemicals plants, helping to maintain competitive
advantage in purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and acetic acid. Learning
from successful project implementations in Asia, continuous
improvement of our CATIVA®technology for manufacture of acetic
acid maintains BP’s world-class capital and conversion cost position.
• In the field of conversion technology, our Fischer-Tropsch
demonstration plant programme in Nikiski, Alaska, has been
completed, proving the performance of BP’s fixed-bed process. This
technology is now ready for commercial deployment and available for
third-party licensing. The process is particularly well suited for the
chemical conversion of biomass-derived feedstocks to liquids.
BP’s Alternative Energy portfolio covers a wide range of renewable and
low-carbon energy technologies.
• In 2009, our biofuels business extended its reach and capability
through joint ventures with Dupont (to develop, produce and market
next-generation biofuels from biobutanol), Verenium (two 50:50 JVs
accelerating the development and commercialization of biofuels from
lignocellulosic feedstocks), and Martek Biosciences (developing
technology to convert sugars into diesel).
• In our solar business, BP has joined forces with Interuniversity
Microelectronics Centre (IMEC) and other partners to demonstrate
high-efficiency, low-cost silicon Mono2TM solar cells. This new
technology is producing cells ranging up to 18% efficiency, compared
with multicrystalline cells that are typically around 15%-15.8%
efficiency. Mono2 cells are fabricated using BP Solar’s proprietary
casting technique to produce monocrystalline wafers. BP Solar has
also developed and is in the process of commercializing a full
portfolio of module technology. This uses advanced heat
management and internal microcircuits to optimize energy
production, safety, and ease of operation and maintenance.
• Our carbon capture and storage projects in Abu Dhabi and
California are making progress, with environmental regulator approval
for the former and Department of Energy funding for the latter.
Collaboration plays an important role across the breadth of BP’s research
and development activities, but particularly in those areas that benefit
from fundamental scientific research:
• BP has 11 significant, long-term research programmes with major
universities and research institutions around the world, exploring
areas from energy bioscience and conversion technology to carbon
mitigation and nanotechnology in solar power. In 2009, we
established an EOR exploratory research programme with three
European universities to improve our understanding, foster innovation
and provide a ‘springboard’ for new technologies.
• At our Energy Biosciences Institute at Berkeley, we have located
BP researchers at the institute to collaborate with the academic
researchers. Several foundational research platforms have been
established (including second-generation biofuel technologies and
microbially-enhanced oil and gas recovery) and the first patents and
inventions have started to emerge.
• BP is an industry member of the UK’s Energy Technologies
Institute (ETI) – a public/private partnership to accelerate low-carbon
technology development. In 2009, the ETI commissioned over
£50 million ($80 million) of work covering 10 projects across a wide
range of technologies. The ETI has also developed a model of the UK
energy system which projects out to 2050.
• In 2009, BP launched the Energy Sustainability Challenge, a three-
year study into how changes in availability of and demand for natural
resources and ecosystem services will affect future energy supply
and demand, the technologies that could enable more efficient use
of natural resources, and the policies that will be necessary to bring
these into effect.