BP 2014 Annual Report Download - page 35

2014 2013 2012
Refinery throughputsathousand barrels per day
USb642 726 1,310
Europe 782 766 751
Rest of world 297 299 293
Total 1,721 1,791 2,354
%
Refining availability 94.9 95.3 94.8
Sales volumes thousand barrels per day
Marketing salesc2,872 3,084 3,213
Trading/supply salesd2,448 2,485 2,444
Total refined product sales 5,320 5,569 5,657
Crude oile2,360 2,142 1,518
Total 7,680 7,711 7,175
a Refinery throughputs reflect crude oil and other feedstock volumes.
b The Texas City and Carson refineries were both divested in 2013.
c Marketing sales include sales to service stations, end-consumers, bulk buyers and jobbers
(i.e. third parties who own networks of a number of service stations) and small resellers.
d Trading/supply sales are sales to large unbranded resellers and other oil companies.
e Crude oil sales relate to transactions executed by our integrated supply and trading function,
primarily for optimizing crude oil supplies to our refineries and in other trading. 88,000 barrels
per day relate to revenues reported by the Upstream segment.
Logistics and marketing
Downstream of our refineries, we operate an advantaged infrastructure
and logistics network that includes pipelines, storage terminals and tankers
for road and rail. We seek to drive for excellence in operational and
transactional processes and deliver compelling customer offers in the
various markets where we operate. For example, in 2014 we added the
capability to receive additional US shale crudes by rail at our Cherry Point
refinery in Washington. This increases the use of location-advantaged
crudes at this refinery, improving access and diversification of crude slates.
We supply fuel and related retail services to consumers through company-
owned and franchised retail sites, as well as other channels, including
dealer wholesalers and jobbers. We also supply commercial customers
within the transport and industrial sectors.
Number of retail sites operated under a BP brand
Retail sitesf 2014 2013 2012
US 7,100 7,700 10,100
Europe 8,000 8,000 8,300
Rest of world 2,100 2,100 2,300
Total 17,200 17,800 20,700
f The number of retail sites includes sites not operated by BP but instead operated by dealers,
jobbers, franchisees or brand licensees under a BP brand. These may move to or from the BP
brand as their fuel supply or brand licence agreements expire and are renegotiated
in the normal course of business. Retail sites are primarily branded BP, ARCO and Aral. Excludes
our interests in equity-accounted entities that are dual-branded.
Retail is the most material element of our fuels marketing operations and
has good exposure to growth markets. We have distinctive partnerships
with leading retailers in six countries and plan to expand elsewhere. Retail
is a significant source of growth today and is expected to be so in the
future. See Driving success below.
Supply and trading
BP’s integrated supply and trading function is responsible for delivering
value across the overall crude and oil products supply chain. This structure
enables the optimization of our FVCs to maintain a single interface with
oil trading markets and to operate with a single set of trading compliance
and risk management processes, systems and controls. The oil trading
function (including support functions) has trading offices in Europe, the US
and Asia. Our presence in the more actively-traded regions of the global oil
markets supports overall understanding of the supply and demand forces
across these markets. It has a two-fold strategic purpose in our
Downstream business.
First, it seeks to identify the best markets and prices for our crude oil,
source optimal feedstocks for our refineries and provide competitive
supply for our marketing businesses. Wherever possible we will look to
optimize value across the supply chain. For example, we will often sell our
own crude and purchase alternative crudes from third parties for our
refineries where this will provide incremental margin.
Driving success
Since 2005, our retail partnership with Marks &
Spencer (M&S) has gone from strength
to strength, offering a premium convenience
experience that’s helped to drive overall service
station sales growth above the industry average.
Our success is reflected not only by our expansion
rate – 26 stores opening across the UK in 2014
– but also by strong sales growth across our
existing M&S Simply Food® forecourts.
The combination of BP and M&S brands
complement each other, creating a highly
differentiated offer for our target customers who
are looking for a forecourt offer that combines
high-quality fuel, premium convenience foods
and the Wild Bean Cafe.
A typical customer’s spend in a M&S Simply
Food® outlet is more than 50% higher than in our
other stores, and we’ve had a significant increase
in customers visiting the store specifically for our
food offer.
BP currently owns and operates nearly 200 BP
forecourts with an M&S Simply Food®.
Our Downstream business provides
significant cash generation for the group.
Defined on page 252. BP Annual Report and Form 20-F 2014 31
Strategic report