BP Magazine, Issue One 2008

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008

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Contents 2 Angolan success Why the start-up of Greater Plutonio is good for corporation and country. By Adam Smith. Photography by Simon Kreitem 7 One year on Chief executive Tony Hayward talks about his first 12 months in office and why he’s proud of BP. By Martin Vander Weyer. Photography by Stuart Conway 10 Rapid response How strong relationships helped repair a major BP pipeline. By Lisa Davison. Animation stills courtesy of JP Kenny 12 Recognising achievement The rise of corporate internal awards programmes. By Hester Thomas. Illustration by Magic Torch 16 Ball skills Castrol gears up for a summer of football, thanks to its latest sponsorship deal. By Lucy Harvey 19 Another world Life as an offshore worker on one of BP’s newest platforms. By Paula Kolmar. Photography by Marc Morrison 22 Game on Meet the new computer game that boasts an environmental conscience. By Ian Valentine 25 Nature’s finest How a geologist’s wildlife images made him the toast of the photographic community. Photography by Graham Eaton 27 Worldview A snapshot of BP news from around the world. 29 BP Faces Paul Box faces down kangaroos to deliver fuel. Photography by Kevin Scott 30 Archive Celebrating 100 years of ‘first oil’. Photography by Richard Price & BP Archive 31 Parting shot Head to head. Full steam ahead for BP Angola. Photography by Simon Kreitem

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – Angola, mutual advantage

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Angola springs forth

It has been seven years in the making, but in October last year, Greater Plutonio – the first BP-operated piece of Angolan business – successfully began production. It represents a milestone for a country with little education system, minimum infrastructure but high expectations of a lucrative industry. Adam Smith travels to the west African nation to learn more about the technical training programmes, enterprise projects and education opportunities that BP supports – in some cases several years before producing a single barrel of oil – in order to create a business of which both it and Angola can be proud. Photography by Simon Kreitem Step forward to 2008, though, and things are very different. The streets of Luanda, the country’s capital, are buzzing with the spirit of entrepreneurialism. Traders sell everything from denim jeans to hatstands, and car accessories to food, from any available street corner. Everywhere you look, new buildings are going up, roads are being improved and shiny new cars hulk their way around the city’s narrow streets. The country’s finest soccer players are signing up to play for European giants such as Manchester United, and an influx of foreign oil workers is adding to the region’s cultural diversity. Angola is a country on the rise – its population is as good an indicator of that as you’ll find. Take Luanda, for example. It was built to accommodate around 500,000 people.The stark reality, though, is it that in 2005 it was home to 2.8 million, with today’s estimates topping 5 million. There are two main drivers behind this population boom – not only is the birth rate in the city going up by 2% every year, but thousands of people sought refuge in ‘the Paris of Africa’ to escape the war, which was mainly fought in the rural regions. Blessed with a very young population of 12 million and a bounty of hydrocarbon resources, Angola’s major challenge in driving forward as a leader of west African business will be harnessing enthusiastic, raw, indigenous talent to develop the nation’s natural assets in a measured, sustainable way. The fact that unemployment, or at least underemployment, affects more than half the population is not lost on José Patricio, BP’s head of country – after all, it was the devastating civil war that created the bulk of Angolan jobs. For many nationals, the arrival of major oil and gas companies heralds an era of economic opportunity, albeit one that will take time to filter through to the man on the street – and that is the important message to get across. Patricio explains: “In Angola, there is a lot of expectations associated with the oil sector and we need to manage those in order to avoid misunderstandings. The oil sector is a very high-tech, sophisticated industry, in which companies invest a lot of time and money, but it is not a job generator to the same alignment of investment. “This is an issue the oil companies, and the government, must pay attention to in order to manage these expectations. The government must use oil revenues to revitalise other sectors and create more jobs – that is the way I see the future of this country. “We must also manage the expectations of the time it will take to achieve. The last main job generator in this country was the war, but that is over and the rate of unemployment is so high, and people look to the oil sector which has very high training requirements. We need to balance these factors.” With the fastest-growing economy in Africa, it’s little wonder Angolans want to see an immediate upturn in available work and social improvement, especially in the wake of new hydrocarbon discoveries by the likes of BP, Total and ExxonMobil. But, just as the country’s infrastructure all but ground to a halt during the war, so did its education system, meaning rigorous training programmes need to be put in place before the country sees a new generation of offshore operating technicians.


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But with scheduled presidential elections next year, the pressure is on oil majors to meet government-set ‘Angolanisation’ targets, or face hefty fines. The principle itself is coherent – each company that operates in a ‘skilled’ industry must have a workforce that is at least 70% Angolan. The target for unskilled firms is 100%. The problem, however, comes when the talent pool of Angolan engineers and technicians has been restricted by war-governed gaps in the country’s education system, and demand outstrips supply. For BP, there was no other option but to set up its own training programme, which addressed not only its own recruitment issues, but also those of the industry, and to create a sustainable education system for aspiring Angolan engineers. The company’s programme for offshore technicians was established in the 1999/2000 academic year, to try and tackle the shortage of skilled, local offshore staff. At seven years, it’s a long process, but one which rewards the graduate with a wealth of career possibilities – after all, they are not bound to work for BP just because it sponsored the programme. After initial assessments, the trainees – who come from all over Angola – spend a year at a Luandan college learning English, before being seconded for three years’ vocational training outside Angola. Most then work in either a BP/Shell joint venture refinery in South Africa, or with BP’s petrochemicals or shipping businesses in the UK. And, where possible, the students are put through their paces offshore, either in the North Sea, or US Gulf of Mexico and, more recently, onshore Colombia. The importance of such a training initiative was no more evident than when the BP-operated Greater Plutonio development came onstream last year. Having played pivotal roles in the construction of the floating production storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO) in Ulsan, South Korea, Angolan technicians were at the helm during BP chief executive Tony Hayward’s offshore inaugural visit. Tony Hunt, BP Angola operations manager, explains: “The reality is that attracting Angolan talent has never been a problem – the oil industry is seen as a big growth area, offering great opportunities and good salaries, and BP has an excellent reputation for training people. “So, the challenge was to build and develop a training programme into which we could put talented Angolans so that they would emerge, after a four-year apprenticeship, as qualified technicians. The recent Helios Award [BP’s internal recognition programme] confirmed us to be best in class in the upstream business. Our Angolans are now obtaining further training and development on board the FPSO.” This programme has given the likes of Claudio Vunda, a 23-year-old first year student on the BP-sponsored programme at Centro Polivalente De Formação Profissional, a chance to break into the oil and gas industry. Vunda, who gained vocational experience in Durban, South Africa, at the end of the classroom-based English strand of the programme, explains: “Before this programme, I was at university and was going to be an electronic engineer, but I found this a great opportunity, as BP will give us a specialisation, unlike the other course. It is a great opportunity to carry on with my dream, because I want to be a great technician in the electrical area – I am really very happy to join this programme.” It was the graduates of the first offshore training programme, along with expatriate workers, who helped bring Greater Plutonio onstream on 1st October last year, in an event Hayward labelled significant in enhancing BP’s “development and use of innovative deepwater technology that will prove so important in accessing new resources around the world.” It marked the culmination of seven years of hard work for the team. The construction of the Greater Plutonio FPSO, extensive subsea facilities and associated start-up of Greater Plutonio – which BP operates with interests split equally with partner Sonangol Sinopec International (SSI) – represents a number of industry firsts. Aside from being a significant footprint for the company in Angola by being its first operated project there, the venture married components from construction yards around the world and had, at the heart of its subsea system, the world’s single largest riser tower of its kind, connecting the FPSO to 150km (93 miles) of flowlines, nine manifolds and 110km (68 miles) of instrument and control umbilicals. In other words, a large subsea infrastructure linking the wells with the FPSO. The smooth start-up was emphasised by the fact the FPSO hit the 100,000-plus barrels of oil a day production target in the first few weeks of operation, and subsequently offloaded more than 1 million barrels, just 25 days after initial start-up. For production support team leader Bill Grames, it is the offloading that represents the most important commercial milestone. “We forecast that we could have a world-class start-up, and there were a lot of doubters that we could do it,” he says. “A good example is how quickly and efficiently gas injection was brought online, thereby reducing flaring and emissions.


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“From the production standpoint, everyone has been concentrating on first oil – but the reality is that we don’t get paid until the tankers sail away with their loads. In fact, the exports from Greater Plutonio are the real commercial milestones and indicators for us and the project.” And for Angola as a country, that first offloading deal could represent a crucial socio-economic milestone as local businesses look to forge partnerships with BP and the country’s other resident oil majors. After all, oil production accounts for more than half of Angola’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 75% of all government revenue. But just as with education, the Angolan economy was another casualty of war. Boosting the local and national economy is of paramount importance if BP is to continue to grow a sustainable business in the country, and also adhere to government ‘Angolanisation’ targets. This need to develop local enterprise prompted the creation of the Centro de Apoio Empresarial (CAE) business assistance centre to provide supplier training and specialist business support to local firms wanting to bid for, and win, oil and gas-related contracts. Set up with partners, including state oil firm Sonangol, and in consultation with the US non-profit organisation Citizens Development Corps, CAE has two primary objectives: to encourage small and medium-sized Angolan businesses to bid for lucrative contracts, and to develop products and services which are transferable across the industry. John Lindley, business unit resources director, explains: “CAE is such an important initiative for both BP and local businesses, as it allows everyone to create business value. For BP, this means using local content to ensure steady operations and securing a supply chain in Angola, instead of having to import everything. And if we go about it the right way, the CAE could even differentiate us as a company. “But what local content is all about is working in Angola, for Angola, in the context of our business. It’s about how BP and its partners can play a role in increasing the contribution of the Angolan people in terms of goods and services to the national economy.” For Luandan businessmen like Oscar Frederico Leal, who has been a member of CAE for a little under a year, the initiative is his only route in to the oil and gas industry. The owner and managing director of Osfrel, a polyurethane and polystyrene manufacturer, explains: “Without this type of training, it is very difficult to gain access to opportunities in the industry. The CAE courses have opened my eyes to some of the dangers that can arise – they have taught me that it is worth spending a little more to prevent a large amount of damage. I would rather spend $50 on something than have to spend $3,000 on repairs. “In the long term, I hope that CAE will give me access to the oil industry and bring with it new opportunities for business.” CAE representative meetings are a hotbed of activity. Company representatives travel for miles to get to the BP-supported sessions, as, like Leal, they see it as a golden opportunity to bring the multinational-driven industry a little closer to home. It’s a concept Patricio endorses. He believes encouraging the development of Angolan business is a mutually beneficial approach. He says: “This strategy of localising, or Angolanisation, is by no means for altruistic purposes – it serves both sides of the equation. By building a local energy company, we are accomplishing not just government Angolanisation targets, but also following a cost-efficient strategy. So, this is the classic win-win solution. “I believe that Europe and the US still look at Africa with a nostalgic vision, and this poisons the general population with preconceived ideas. I’m not saying that corruption is not a serious issue in west Africa, however, it is mainly a phenomenon driven by a lack of institutional capability, rather than human motivation.” For Patricio and BP Angola, the challenge lies on two fronts – running a sustainable business, while helping build adequate infrastructure and changing the perceptions of some western European and US companies. Both will take considerable time – especially considering Angola ranks 142 out of 163 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. To underline the corporate and social responsibilities of big business in Angola, a good analogy would be property development. Angola’s brutal civil war not only destroyed much of the physical country, but also its socio-economic framework. This is not so much a redecoration project, as a complete rebuild.


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The fact that it is blessed with enormous potential, both in terms of extensive hydrocarbons and a young population, make Angola the worst house in the best street rather than the best house in the worst street. In other words, when the foundations of good governance and business are laid throughout the country, it will truly prosper.

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – Angola, education initiatives

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Investment for the future

Alongside its technical training programmes, BP is involved in more grassroots education to support the next generation of Angolan professionals. “No business or country can operate without taking into consideration its people and their potential,” says José Patricio, BP’s head of country for Angola. Since 2000, Patricio has been driving BP Angola forward as a business that cares about local self-governance and restoring opportunities for the people on the street. “I believe the perception of some Angolans is that some oil companies are simply coming to the country, stripping it of its resources and not leaving a legacy,” Patricio laments. “But it is down to us as a company to get better exposure, to present ourselves as distinctive, and as a force for good. “This is what we are doing in BP – we have a stronger commitment in society, mainly in education, because it is the high priority in Angola, and our social investment centres around education and capability building.” Two such initiatives making a difference on a daily basis are the Escola Primaria 3001 (School 3001) project in the Luandan municipality of Ingombota, and BP’s work at the Association for the Support of Abandoned Children (AACA). The firm’s involvement at School 3001 translates into bricks and mortar. In this instance, the company provided a new computer learning room, complete with five computers and a new library of books. It’s a gesture that means a lot to school director Luzia Dias Dos Santos Silveira: “The students are benefiting from everything that has been donated – the computers and the books really help to give them better knowledge and understanding of what we teach. Before this we had nothing – and that is for a school with 780 students from the ages of five to 16.” A more striking contrast between 2007 and the end of the civil war is there for all to see at AACA – an orphanage for a few of Angola’s many girls who lost their entire families during the conflict. Currently, AACA houses 60 youngsters in modest living quarters, giving them educational opportunities via a BP-sponsored library, as well as a small bakery, selling bread and pastries. Five years on, scars of war are still very much in evidence. Rosaria Pacavira, the project’s manager, reveals that originally 100 girls had been identified for aid, but lack of space meant 40 of the country’s most needy children had to be turned away. She explains: “The children are all from the 1992 war and as many as 14 of Angola’s 18 provinces. Some came here with their mothers to flee the violence in rural areas, but some walked here on their own – no mothers, nothing. We provide everything we can – education, activities, entertainment – and have been since 1994. Any such support we receive is a great help.” Further up the education ladder, BP is also supporting the Masters of Law programme, run at the Agostinho Neto University College of Law. BP has pledged $2.3 million to fund the course for three years. It is designed to guide legal graduates in the drafting of industry-specific legislation. Besides teaching high-level technical skills, which will help students eventually shape the face of the oil industry for Angola, the programme is designed to demonstrate the benefits of transparent and ethical business practices.

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – Profile

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An audience with... Tony Hayward Chief executive of BP

Almost 12 months since taking on the role as chief executive of BP, Tony Hayward is stamping his mark on a company that has faced its fair share of recent challenges. He talks to Martin Vander Weyer about why he believes BP is still a great ship to helm. The best managers and scientists share a special skill: the ability to explain the most complex issues in the simplest terms. BP chief executive Tony Hayward – who holds a doctorate in geology – is a scientist-turned-manager, and his encapsulation of his company’s distinctive character and modern history is a model of clarity. “People who work for BP care deeply about the company; they have green and yellow blood in their veins,” he begins, “and I think that’s because this is a company that tries to do the right thing.” In his early career – when he was based in the imperially-grand Britannic House in London’s financial district, between stints as a field geologist and on North Sea platforms – what he calls ‘heritage BP’ was a comfortable hierarchy of like-minded, lifelong colleagues, a bit like the civil service. Then Bob Horton and David Simon led a drive to turn it into a more modern, commercial enterprise in the first half of the 1990s. After that came the whirlwind that was John Browne’s 12-year tenure as chief executive. The merger with Amoco in 1998, and the acquisitions of ARCO and Burmah Castrol in 2000, took BP from a relatively compact ‘two-pipeline company’, with its major assets concentrated in Alaska and the North Sea and a workforce of only 50,000, to a global mega-corporation with more than double that number. But the post-merger integration process created what might best be described as a severe case of corporate indigestion, while a long run of rising oil prices from 2002 encouraged – hindsight suggests – creeping complacency about profit performance. Worse still, BP’s safety and operating standards were compromised by corrosion and spillages in the Alaska pipeline and by the Texas City Refinery explosion in March 2005, when 15 workers died. “John built a fantastic company, a stunning company,” says Hayward, reaching for what sounds to me like the only obviously prepared soundbite in an otherwise unspun interview: he has never criticised his predecessor, and takes care to emphasise that they remain personal friends. “Our task now is to demonstrate that we can run it.” He is talking about much more than the turnaround of BP’s two major US refineries – the $3.8 billion upgrade of Whiting, the former Amoco plant in Indiana, as well as the recommissioning of Texas City. But the traumatic aftermath of the Texas tragedy has been ‘transforming’ for the company, a catalyst for deep-rooted change. “We lost the hearts and minds of the workforce, and we failed to understand the risks we were running.” The Baker Panel, the commission of inquiry led by former US Secretary of State James Baker, which reported back last year, “was quite rightly scathing, but it has provided us with a road map for a three- to five-year journey to transform our operations globally.” What Hayward is talking about on a wider front – and, after almost a year in the chief executive’s seat, beginning to implement – is a radical overhaul of BP’s entire modus operandi. And, again, simplification is the key. “We have fantastic assets and great people,” he says. “We just have to make them come together in a more powerful, efficient, productive way.” At the core of the problem was the highly bureaucratised management structure that resulted from the mergers and acquisitions. When he took over from Browne last May, Hayward commissioned outside consultants to “hold up a mirror to the group.” What they showed him was ‘pretty ugly’. They told him: “You’ve set a new benchmark for complexity.” They unearthed no less than 7,500 ‘operational interfaces’ – that is, potential management blockages – and their report confirmed the anecdotal impression Hayward formed for himself when touring BP operations around the world in the months before he took over.


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“The people who know most about this business are the people out there running operations on the ground. And what many of them were saying to me was, ‘this is a great company and we love it. But boy, is it difficult to get a decision.’ What I learned was that we’d become far too introspective at the top. In particular, we weren’t listening to the operating people on safety and reliability.” Hayward took his senior management team offsite for two days at the end of August last year to think about all this. What they came up with was a radical simplification of structure. BP now consists of just two segments, Exploration & Production (E&P) and Refining & Marketing, and the stand-alone business Alternative Energy; superfluous layers of management are being cut out as part of a $1 billion-plus restructuring, which will eventually reduce the workforce by 5,000. Besides this internal upheaval, he explains, BP has to contend with the external stresses of an industry in which “the supply chain has broken” in the face of surging energy demand – especially from China, which has compressed into less than a decade an industrialisation and urbanisation equivalent to the entire economic advance of Europe from 1945 to today. After an era of under-investment, when oil prices were low, there are simply not enough physical and human assets available: he quotes the example of drilling-rig lease costs, which have risen within a few years from a day-rate of $200,000 to upwards of $550,000. BP plans are based on an oil-price range in the medium term of $60 to $90 a barrel, but those who think such high prices automatically mean high profits for oil majors haven’t grasped what the supply-demand equation has been doing to operating costs. These are mighty big issues to be addressed by a newish – and, at 50, still strikingly youthful – chief executive. So, is he enjoying the job, I wonder, with the fierce scrutiny it brings from City analysts and the media, and its unremitting burden of overseas travel? He’s struggling through this interview with a heavy cold, but still he looks cheerful and relaxed. “I love it,” he says – but he’s also prepared to agree with the old adage of military life, that being a senior general can be a lot less satisfying than commanding a battalion in mid-career. In Hayward’s case, battalion command came in the form of the presidency of BP Venezuela in his late 30s, when he had only 500 people working for him, and it was possible to know them all personally. It was there that his view of the paramount importance of operational safety was formed by the searing experience of attending the funeral of a worker killed in an accident at a BP plant, and being confronted by the dead man’s distraught mother. Running the Venezuelan operation was, he says, a life-changing experience, which taught him that managing people, even in a technology-driven business, is “more art than science...your staff actually have to believe in you. You have to shed your corporate shell and let them see the real you.” But is there a risk that the Hayward both the outside world and the BP workforce will see most of for the next few years is the hands-on manager grappling with internal challenges of safety and efficiency, rather than the visionary leading the company towards new frontiers? He counters that suggestion with a quick global canter through some of BP’s most exciting assets of the future, from the deepwater Gulf of Mexico to the oil sands of Canada and recent finds in Azerbaijan, Egypt and Angola. And he homes in on TNK-BP, Russia’s third largest oil company, which now accounts for a quarter of all BP’s production and 10% of the group’s profits. Hayward himself first put together the nuts and bolts of BP’s 50% interest in the TNK-BP joint venture in 2003, in his previous role as head of E&P. The partnership with two groups of Russian private-sector investors, Alfa and Access-Renova, has not always been plain sailing, but Hayward regards it both as a success for the BP philosophy of ‘doing the right thing’ and as evidence against the familiar, but simplistic, view that ‘Russia is trouble’, especially in anything to do with the politics of energy. “If you perform well, the Russians genuinely want you to stay,” he says, pointing out that TNK-BP has paid $60 billion in Russian taxes in its first five years. “But, you have to be tough. History taught them to respect toughness above all else. This” – he smacks a clenched fist into a cupped hand in a gesture of unequivocal decisiveness – “is the thing that is most readily understood.” As an insurance policy he and John Browne asked for, and got, an annual meeting with President (now prime minister) Putin to review the progress of the venture. “Putin has played the energy card brilliantly, but he’s very positive about TNK-BP.” “So, he’s a man you can do business with?” I ask, adapting former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s phrase about ex-Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev. “Yes” – a thoughtful pause – “yes, I believe he is.”


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So it’s not all restructuring and financial reengineering; there are some very bright lights on the BP world map. But, I suggest to Hayward, it does rather seem to be all about oil these days: all that talk, not so long ago, about BP meaning ‘Beyond Petroleum’ seems to have faded quietly into the background, has it not? Hayward is quick to deny any such shift. Far from being de-emphasised, he says, BP’s alternative energy interests have been given greater focus by being pulled out of the disparate parts of the group where they used to sit and into a single new division, which will receive $1.5 billion of new investment this year. In particular, BP’s extensive wind-turbine estates in the US, with 350 megawatts of generating capacity (enough to supply 120,000 homes), now have the makings of a valuable and important business. And he reminds me that, however green we might all wish to be, the world is clearly going to be consuming carbon fuel in huge quantities for many years to come. In that context, BP’s commitment to cleaner fuels, higher extraction rates from existing oil fields and a lower overall carbon footprint for all its operations, is still the most important environmental contribution any global energy company can make. Our conversation ends on that upbeat note – and, as I leave the executive floor of the St James’s Square headquarters, I notice Tony Hayward slipping in to the investor relations office to check the morning’s movement in BP’s share price. It’s a reminder of one of the most potent short-term pressures that plague modern public-company chief executives. Hayward faces longer-term pressures, too, having set himself the high goal of a complete change in BP’s operating processes at a time of unprecedented demands on the entire energy industry. But, he has the advantages of a scientist’s clarity of mind, combined with a lifelong BP man’s human understanding of what makes the company tick. BP, I sense, is in good hands. Writer biography> MartIn Vander Weyer is business editor of The Spectator.

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – Pipeline repair

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Blueprint for action unites industry

In an operational environment of platforms and pipelines, it’s crucial that BP can respond rapidly to any emergency. It found itself doing just that last summer when a vessel dragged its anchor near one of the company’s pipelines. With the publication of the Marine Accident Investigation Branch’s full report into the event highlighting the importance of communication, Lisa Davison talks to some of the BP people who were at the heart of the issue to find out why good relationships will always see you through tough times. Animation stills courtesy of JP Kenny Ask anyone in business what the key factor for success is and time after time you’ll hear the same answer – ‘strong relationships’. It’s not very often, though, that you come across an event when those relationships are so critical that without them a significant proportion of a nation’s energy supply could be affected. The event in question occurred late on Monday 25th June 2007, when a large vessel dragged its anchor in the vicinity of the UK’s Central Area Transmission System (CATS) pipeline. Operating since 1993, the 412km (256 mile) pipeline supplies around 8% of the UK’s total gas demand. Initial damage was unclear, but what was apparent was the need for BP, as operator of the line, to launch an action plan. “It was a national-level security of supply issue,” says Dave Blackwood, strategic performance unit leader in the North Sea. “The situation was helped by the fact that we were in summer when the gas demand is lower, but the authorities were concerned about the line being out of service into the winter months.” “The call came from the Ports Authority at about 12.30am,” remembers Graham Owen, pipeline integrity manager. “There were no operational signs of a problem, no leaks or pressure fluctuations, but what was a concern was integrity.” The next morning, a remote operated vehicle (ROV) was mobilised in order to begin assessing the pipeline in more detail, not as easy as it sounds given that the UK had been experiencing extremely heavy rainfall, creating lots of sediment in the water, making for poor visibility. When images started to come back from the ROV, though, there was an indication of damage to the pipeline’s concrete coating – designed to both protect and weigh down the pipeline. The anchor had caught the line and dragged it from its burial trench up 1.5 metres (five feet) and across 4.5 metres (15 feet). There was no gas leak, but the line had clearly been impacted and scratches in the metal could be seen. Until now, BP had kept the pipeline flowing, but closer inspections were needed and, in this case, as Owen explains, “the human hand is the ultimate tool.” So the pipeline was depressurised and divers sent in. “Understanding what had happened was our first concern,” says Dave Mitchell, performance unit leader for North Sea infrastructure. “We had to be methodical, not emotional, all the while being mindful of the potential scale of damage.” The extent of it was broken down into three options: the first that the line was fine and simply needed stabilising, the second that there was minor damage requiring a mechanical sleeve to reinforce and protect the line, and the third that there was significant damage, meaning that the pipeline would have to be cut open and a new section welded in. Each scenario carried its own timescale, with the biggest risk being that repairs could last up to six months, pushing start-up close to the peak winter months. Based on early ROV observations, BP believed scenario two was the most likely, but until the divers were able to go down, they had to consider and plan for all three options. It also meant co-ordinating communications with five other pipeline partners, the gas fields that used the line to transport their product, the Port Authority, Coastguard, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), media, and ultimately, the UK government’s trade and industry arm.


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“It was a real challenge to manage expectations because so many groups were involved,” says Mitchell. “This went right to the top of BP, BG, our largest partner, customers, the government. Managing the flow of information while allowing the team to get on and assess and repair the problem was tough. You can only do it, though, by being honest from the start about your options as you’re exploring the extent of the damage.” “From my perspective, the biggest challenge was producing an engineering assessment that stood up to the scrutiny of all the owners, the HSE and BP’s senior leadership,” says Owen. Ultimately, he was successful and BP was correct in its assessment that a mechanical sleeve would be needed to protect the pipeline. All in a day’s work you might think. But while BP’s joint venture partners agreed with the diagnosis, they weren’t convinced that the team could do it in the projected timeframe – two months. “That actually took off the pressure off,” says Mitchell. Remarkably, assessment and repairs were indeed turned around in just 67 days, without a single incident. BP’s partners later acknowledged that the company had set a benchmark for such work. How did they do it? Partly, says the team, because safety is so ingrained in their daily working lives that their processes stood up to the pressure of an emergency, but also because of the outstanding response from partners and suppliers alike. “We were successful because of the early recognition that this was a big event for BP and the industry,” says Mitchell. “BP focused on this from the word go. They allowed me to step out of my day job and concentrate on this alone. I was also able to call on anyone in the BP group who could help on the technical side, on what was still an unknown, emerging problem.” A multi-disciplinary effort began to form, with the operations team fixing the line, while legal representatives were checking agreements; the commercial team working with the pipeline owners, while the external affairs team kept the media informed. “It was important for us not to have any emotional headlines,” says Mitchell. “We were well aware of the potential corporate impact, plus we were managing a gas pipeline heading up to the crucial winter season. There was potential for market sensitisation as a result, and we were determined not to let that happen.” Pulling internal people out of their day jobs is tricky enough, but then persuading an army of external suppliers – from vessel operators to dive experts, and pipeline designers to fabricators – to drop everything and concentrate on your problem is in another league. The time of year didn’t help, either. While summer time sees a lot less gas flowing through the line – around 220 million cubic feet versus 1 billion in winter – it also means much of the industry is carrying out its own important maintenance work. Work that requires its own set of specialised equipment. It is also traditionally the time that a lot of British workers take their annual leave. “Vessels have their work programmes laid out up to a year in advance,” explains Blackwood. “So we were asking people to cut short their own time.” There was, of course, an element of commercialism involved in securing the necessary kit, but this wasn’t about money. “There was a period of time when half of every day was taken up calling in favours,” Blackwood continues. “Generally, our partners and suppliers acknowledged that this was a serious event and people went a lot further than they could have done.” It isn’t the only example of a normally competitive industry pulling out the stops to help, but it is an indicator of how important those good relationships with your competitors, customers and third party suppliers can be. It isn’t until a time of crisis that you realise just how important. “It is a positive comment on behaviours both inside BP and in the industry that we were allowed to pull people out of their usual organisation structure at a moment’s notice,” says Dave Turner, former North Sea subsea manager, who found himself returning from vacation to oversee project management of the subsea support from both the integrated BP team and external subsea suppliers. Without those favours, his job could have been even harder. As it was, his team still found themselves working along the ‘critical path’ for some 61 of the total 67 days. “Everyone responded with tenacity and commitment,” he says. “In the subsea market, the suppliers are in control, but we had a fantastic response from them. It showed the real value of relationship management, built up over many years. Teams that would normally be competing commercially were now working collaboratively. Despite the conjested North Sea work programme, they actually helped to facilitate opportunities and synergies between operator clients.”


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Throughout this period, everything was conducted in parallel, multiple repair programmes were implemented and, as the project changed with the arrival of new information, the team adapted quickly in response. Turner cites the high level of integrated strategic planning as key to the success of such an operation. “We placed a BP subsea engineer at each supplier site to ensure continuous interaction and act as a point of focus for the supply teams. We had daily updates, which brought everyone together and allowed successful risk management – they covered the what ifs.” One of those ‘what ifs’ turned out to be the lack of an adaptable metal sleeve. The dive team carried out extensive mapping of the impacted section of the pipeline and discovered they would need a bespoke sleeve. It would have to be long enough to cover a four-metre stretch – standard off-the-shelf sleeves only usually measure about two metres – and exactly match the shape of the impacted line, so that once cement grouting was complete, any fluctuations in gas pressure wouldn’t cause the metal to move. Like everything else on the project, work had to be carried out in tandem, so while the designer was designing the sleeve, the fabrication team was rolling the steel plate that it would be made from. “They needed to be talking to each other all the time, as well as to the divers and engineers who knew what they wanted to make life easier for installation on the seabed,” says Mitchell. Despite the intensity of this 24-hour-a-day work, not a single injury was incurred, something of which the team is rightly very proud. “We didn’t do anything different on this project, we just made sure we talked about it all the time and then gave the team the space to get on and do their job,” says Mitchell. Turner agrees, pointing to the fact that BP has been involved in organising safety leadership conferences in the North Sea area for the past 10 years. “It enables us to discuss issues openly and encourages continuous reporting. I think the way we delivered CATS is a celebration of that process.” “It was end-to-end for about 10 or 11 weeks,” says Blackwood. “I’m proud that our team was able to safely keep up such a level of intensity above and beyond normal duties. It is a testament to the hard work they put in and the fantastic response from the industry.” CATS facts Operational: 1993 Route: begins at a riser platform adjacent to the BP-operated Everest field, 233km (144 miles) east of Aberdeen and ends at the CATS terminal in Teesside, northern England Length: 412km (256 miles) Partners: BP, BG, Hess, ConocoPhillips, Eni & Total Operator: BP Market: normally transports 8% of the UK’s gas demand Number of fields it supports: 12 Capacity: can handle more than 48 million standard cubic metres (1.7 billion standard cubic feet) per day

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – Helios Awards

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The human energy that reaps rewards

For many organisations, the annual internal awards programme is a major event, attracting thousands of entries. Hester Thomas joins the competitive arena to find out why BP and other companies run such awards, and assesses their significance. Illustrations by Magic Torch “You work all your life for someone to acknowledge your efforts. We got it, and we’re very proud of it, too,” says a jubilant Richard Huff, process development superintendent at BP’s Cherry Point refinery in the US. He, along with his colleagues, designed the next generation desalter profiler for crude oil, reducing environmentally sensitive waste water by 50% and producing annual savings of $1.6 million. For that, they won the innovation category in BP’s 2006 Helios Awards. “It was surprising, shocking and I felt numb until a colleague shook my hand in congratulations. Then, I just sat there with a big smile on my face thinking, ‘we’ve done it,’” recalls Paul Rodgers, recruitment and development manager for BP Angola. What they had ‘done’ was win the progressive category in the 2007 Helios Awards, after creating a unique training and development programme for Angolan engineering technicians. Back in Angola, Paul and his team quickly spread the news and shared the success with everyone who had worked on the project – from internal colleagues and trainees to third party providers, such as teachers and welfare support staff. Talk to any award winner and they’ll tell you just how good it feels. If you could bottle and weigh the emotions of exhilaration, triumph and happiness, it would be possible to quantify the immediate and personal impact of internal awards. If you could do the same with increased motivation, enhanced loyalty and greater commitment, the longer-term benefits would be remarkable. “For BP people, winning a Helios Award is a mark of distinction,” states Jean-Baptiste Renard, regional group vice president for Europe, and a Helios Awards judge. “It gives you recognition, stature and pride.” BP is one of many large corporations, including Barclays, Unilever, PA Consulting, FedEx and Emirates, which run major awards programmes. Chantal Free, a senior consultant at Watson Wyatt who specialises in corporate reward strategies, has seen a recent renewed emphasis on such activities. “This reflects two changes,” she comments. “First, companies are carrying out an inventory of their programmes with a view to simplifying them and ensuring what they offer is aligned with their corporate strategy, values or behaviour. Second, with budgets limited on merit increases, they must find ways of recognising and incentivising people.” For Barclays, the Chairman’s Awards are a way of celebrating one of its fundamental values. “Community investment is what we’ve always believed in and supported,” explains Hannah Roberts, global community investment manager. “These awards recognise the outstanding work that Barclays people have been doing in their local communities, as well as in the areas of equality, diversity, financial inclusion and the environment.” BP’s Helios Awards were established in 2001, following a series of mergers and acquisitions, and supported the launch of the new Helios corporate identity. They unite BP’s 97,000 employees, as well as contractors and partner companies across businesses, geographies and cultures, aligning them around the company’s brand attributes and business agenda. Successful entrants demonstrate BP’s core priorities and behaviours, while ‘living’ one or more of the company’s brand attributes – innovation, progressive, green and performance-driven. The nature and criteria for internal awards can change over time to reflect a company’s priorities. “Historically, the Helios Awards have focused on the BP brand and the idea of ‘going beyond’,” says Steve Shaw, Helios Awards manager. “That’s still relevant, but this year, we’re shifting the emphasis to recognise examples of everyday sustained delivery and our safety, people and performance priorities.” Unilever, well known for its food, cleaning and personal care brands, has also evolved its awards programme. The Advertising Awards, with their focus on creative ideas and traditional media, developed into the Awards for Brand Communication, which recognised outstanding integrated campaigns across multiple media channels. This year, the Marketing Excellence Awards supersede all others. “We’re aligning with current business priorities and the company’s strategic goals,” explains Marianne Schoenauer, head of marketing knowledge management. “We are striving for excellence across marketing disciplines to increase brand share. These awards celebrate outstanding achievement. In addition, we’re showcasing the best work in marketing via online teaching tools, so that everyone can learn from and build on the great work.”


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Knowledge management is an important part of many awards programmes. “The Helios Awards are designed to encourage knowledge sharing,” says Claire Rispe, Helios Awards communications and engagement coordinator. “At each stage of the programme, participants share their ideas in order to accelerate the adoption of technologies and processes, and help reduce the cost of doing business.” In addition, BP keeps a database of all entries, providing a vast fund of information. The knowledge aspect of the Helios Awards is well recognised internally. Indeed, they are referred to colloquially by some employees as the ‘Stealios’ awards. “It’s where you can steal great ideas,” comments Jennifer Julian, senior well work engineer in the Alaska Wells Team, a finalist in the innovation category in 2007 and a Helios Awards judge. “The Helios programme is all about knowledge sharing. It’s not just about having a great idea. It’s about making sure everyone knows about it, so they can benefit, too.” That happens frequently. In the US, the desalter profiler designed by Richard Huff’s team has since been adopted by the Texas City refinery and is due to be installed in Whiting – all due to the publicity it gained through the Helios Awards. Huff has also been approached by Shell and ExxonMobil wanting to know more about the technology. In Angola, Paul Rodgers has received enquiries about his project from BP teams in Azerbaijan and Oman. One of the most high-profile cases of sharing an exceptional idea followed the Australian fuels marketing team’s win of the green and human energy categories in the 2004 Helios Awards with BP Global Choice. This unique offer enables business customers to be carbon neutral: a small sum on each litre of fuel is invested in projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “Although the BP Global Choice concept was known beyond Australia,” says Kerryn Schrank, a member of the original project team, “winning the Helios Awards gave the programme a much greater profile.” Following the ceremony, BP committed to scope out the possibility of developing a similar programme in the UK. Schrank was appointed programme director and targetneutral was launched in August 2006. It went on to open in the Netherlands in November 2007 with plans for further European launches in 2008. “So far, targetneutral has resulted in a total of 83,965 tonnes of carbon dioxide being offset,” says Schrank, now a recognised expert in carbon offsetting schemes. It is the financial benefits that result from knowledge sharing which, for many companies, justifies the cost of an awards programme. “Two years ago, we looked at the return on investment of the Helios Awards,” explains David Bickerton, director of communications and Helios Awards programme sponsor. “It’s difficult to quantify exactly because so many of the benefits are qualitative. Nevertheless, we know it’s a positive investment. We have numerous examples of cost savings and revenue generation that have resulted from the raised profile of ideas and faster adoption of technology and processes.” Awards offer many other benefits, too. For senior managers, they provide an excellent link with day-to-day operations. “Judging the entries and meeting the winners is a fantastic way of seeing the range of extraordinary projects in BP globally,” says Renard. “You can be having a bad day, then you read a Helios Awards entry and you can’t help but be energised by it.” The positive impact can extend further. Barclays and BP both welcome entries that include partner companies. BP, however, is one of the few to specifically provide a partnership award. Luc Bardin, chief sales and marketing officer, explains the corporate thinking: “Our partners bring their expert knowledge and help us apply and leverage their capabilities. Some extraordinary results can be delivered when partners work intimately with us, well beyond what is expected contractually and demonstrating true team spirit. You know it’s there when the relationship feels as if they and we are one single entity.” One of those outstanding partnerships was the Castrol Industrial Lubricants & Services (ILS) team and Ford Manufacturing and Engineering. They were finalists in the partnership category of the 2006 Helios Awards, with lower-cost renewable lubricants that are better for the environment. “The award helped cement what was already a good relationship between us,” notes Simon Taylor, Ford key account manager in ILS Europe. “Moreover, it gave us the opportunity to recognise the whole team who had done such fantastic work.” Reaching BP’s finals spurred on Stuart Burn, technical specialist for hydrocarbons at Ford, to enter more awards with this innovation. In 2007, Ford was a finalist in the Business in the Community Awards and won the process category in the Business Commitment to the Environment Awards. Another partner company that is benefiting from the Helios Awards is Equipo de Servicios Petroleros Ltda (Equipo). BP Colombia and Equipo, a Wood Group-led consortium, were finalists in the partnership category of the 2007 Helios Awards. Their alliance contributed to over 7.5 million man hours without a day away from work case, and savings of $21 million. “This award recognises the fact that we have acted as an ally, aligning our work and performance with


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that of BP,” comments Carlos Lozano, Wood Group Colombia’s operations and maintenance general manager. He plans to use the award entry as a case study to promote best practice within the company. He will also use it externally, as he explains: “When pitching for new contracts, we can demonstrate what we can deliver and the impact this has on a client’s business.” So, in this age of cynicism, are awards popular with employees? For both Barclays and BP, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’. Roberts has seen a 10% increase to 353 entries to Barclays’ Chairman’s Awards since she took over responsibility in 2006. Ten category winners walk away with $2,000 each to donate to the charity of their choice, while an overall winner receives an international volunteering experience. BP’s Helios Awards attract more entries each year. In 2007, it drew 1,649 entries from more than 100 business units and functions in 63 countries. “Our conservative estimate is that 10% of employees take part each year as part of a team entry,” says Shaw. Out of those entries, 10% go through to the commended stage. Sixteen are selected for the final, with six winners taking away a trophy – plus all the associated kudos. “As a piece of global employee engagement, it’s an exemplar of good practice,” states Bickerton. What is clear is that, despite their many differences, internal awards programmes have one thing in common – they draw people together. “The Helios Awards night is the one event of the year that I always go to,” says Bardin. “To see these extraordinary people and what they’re doing for BP around the world – well, it’s completely uplifting and it makes me extremely proud. My heart simply starts beating quicker as they exemplify and incarnate our business priorities, our brand and our Helios so powerfully.” Benchmarking BP recently commissioned the communications consultancy Hill & Knowlton to carry out benchmark research into corporate internal awards programmes. It conducted interviews with personnel in 11 companies, reviewed programmes in more than 32 different organisations and evaluated academic and business publications. Companies use awards to recognise many types of behaviour, from individual and team performance to customer service, volunteering, leadership and acts of humanity. Awards vary from cash, donations and vouchers to trophies and certificates. “Awards programmes do generate both qualitative and quantitative business benefits,” explains Sam Berrisford, senior consultant at Hill & Knowlton. “However, they only do so when they are complemented by a reasonable reward structure, a well maintained physical working environment, a job role which involves clear goals and satisfying work, plus opportunities for further development.”

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – Sponsorship Euro 2008

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A winning combination

Castrol’s sporting connections are as deep-rooted as the company’s reputation for innovation. Until now those ties have leaned towards the kind of sport that uses its product – namely motor racing. But, 2008 will see the brand feature prominently around the UEFA EURO 2008™ football tournament. The team behind the deal talks to The BP Magazine about the largest sponsorship in BP’s history, and why the connections make more sense than you might first think. Report: Lucy Harvey FOLLOWING a successful century of motorsport sponsorship, it may have come as something of a surprise when BP’s global lubricants business, Castrol, announced it was to become one of 10 international brands backing the UEFA EURO 2008™ football tournament. But far from replacing its traditional portfolio, Castrol’s football deal is an extension of its sponsorship activity, and a way of connecting the brand with new audiences, differentiating it from its competitors and boosting employee morale, according to the Castrol team behind it. Their search for a new high-profile marketing opportunity started in 2006, following a relaunch and simplification of the brand. The UEFA EURO 2008™ tournament became a contender due to the huge global interest it attracts. Roy Williamson, marketing director for BP Lubricants, Europe, explains: “We wanted to make the brand more relevant for today’s customers and we needed a communications platform to do that. UEFA EURO 2008 covered a number of different performance criteria for us. “For business customers, it allows us to reward loyalty through merchandising and match tickets, and it motivates them to trade up to higher margin products. “From a consumer perspective, it allows us access to vehicle owners who have been losing interest in oil because advances in engine technology mean oil changes now tend only to be performed in workshops. From an employee point of view, we had just been through a major restructuring and felt there was a need to refocus and reinvigorate our staff, and reassure them that we were investing in the brand.” But the Castrol team was keen to provide more than just the brand’s name to the competition. They wanted to connect football and oil in a tangible way, offering something extra to the fans. “We started talking about how we might work together with UEFA on the tournament,” says Williamson. “UEFA was very interested in developing the statistical analysis that goes along with the game – they felt it was underdeveloped. At the same time, we wanted to contribute something material to the fans, not just badge the event with our logo. Technology is very important to us – our brand is very much about technology, analysis and innovation. “UEFA then presented to us a new player tracking system it was developing for the finals, along with the idea of building our sponsorship around it. It was at this point the opportunity really started to take shape.” Before long, the idea of the Castrol Performance Index was born – a groundbreaking algorithm which uses the new data on players’ actions, speed and efficiency to objectively analyse performance – and Castrol signed the biggest sponsorship deal in BP’s history. At each of the 31 tournament matches, to be played in Austria and Switzerland in June this year, 16 cameras positioned high in the gantry at every ground will collect raw data for the index, including player and ball speed and distance travelled. That information will be fed directly into host website www.castrolindex.com, allowing fans and pundits to easily compare player and team performances. “We will be providing analysis during the finals that hasn’t been seen anywhere before, which is very exciting,” says Williamson. “And some of the metrics we’ll be using – like speed and efficiency – are very similar to those we use every day at Castrol to test our own products.” Project leader and head of marketing services for BP Lubricants, Europe, Vijay Solanki, says the online focus of the index is in response to a growing number of web users around the world.


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“We have taken the digital approach as more of the audience we want to reach is now online,” he says. “During EURO 2004™, the UEFA website had 40 million unique users, and internet penetration has grown significantly since then.” He adds: “The index is already available in nine languages and, as well as featuring fixture information and match results, statisticians have produced detailed algorithms, which use the data collected to evaluate all player actions during a match, based on their role in either assisting or preventing a goal being scored.” Fans who log in are greeted by Arsène Wenger, manager of the English Premier League club Arsenal, who has been recruited as the project’s lead ambassador alongside Bayern Munich manager Ottmar Hitzfeld, former Real Madrid player Emilio Butragueño and renowned former referee Pierluigi Collina. During a recent visit to BP’s technology centre in Pangbourne, UK, Wenger told Castrol employees: “I use statistics in every game. I’m a little bit addicted to data. Statistics are like a universal language for soccer managers and players alike, because everybody can use them to make a point – statistics don’t usually lie when it comes to a player, or a team’s, performance. A soccer match is played by 22 players, but you only have two eyes to observe everything, so the data available has become critical.” Wenger is a fan of the Castrol Performance Index, describing it as a valuable tool for fans because “they will no longer just be relying on the views of pundits and presenters. Instead, Castrol will be giving them access to analysis and graphics to judge player and team performances objectively.” Solanki says the presence of ambassadors like Wenger, who are known and respected for their use of performance analysis within the game, gives Castrol’s sponsorship and approach added credibility. “We are a lubricant brand that is easily associated with motorsport, and not obviously with football,” he says. “Ambassadors play a role in helping to make and demonstrate that connection. Arsène Wenger came top of our list as he uses analysis at every level, and in immense detail. It also helps that he understands our world given he has a degree in engineering and a masters in economics.” Like Williamson, Solanki draws a parallel between the way Wenger approaches football management and how a Castrol lubricant is produced: “Assessment, development, selection and then performance are key ingredients in both processes, and this was brought to life when Arsène visited Pangbourne last year.” Solanki continues: “As well as helping Castrol get under the bonnet of football and develop the index, Arsène is also able to connect the business of football with the business of business. For example, if you take an issue like cultural diversity, he has got 14 different nationalities represented in his squad who he must blend together. Talking to him about how he approaches these challenges is fascinating and there is a lot we can learn from him about how to get global teams working together more effectively.” Alongside the ambassadors, Castrol has developed a range of activities and incentive programmes to ensure staff and customers are engaged in the deal. Business customers have been given the chance to win a range of merchandise and match tickets by increasing product sales and hitting commercial targets, while the general public has been given the same opportunities through on-pack promotions. A five-a-side business-to-business football competition has also proved popular with 6,000 participants from 20 different countries. Although none of the UK sides have managed to qualify for the tournament, Williamson is still confident in the success of the sponsorship. “It is disappointing that no UK team has qualified and it will have an impact on the effectiveness of the sponsorship in the UK, but given that 77% of our gross margin is still covered by other qualifying countries, it certainly does not undermine the overall value. Many of our major businesses in Europe are based in countries which are also leading footballing nations.” Once the final has been played on 29th June, the success of Castrol’s sponsorship will be carefully measured, and whatever the outcome, it is certain the EURO 2008 sponsorship deal will shape Castrol’s future marketing. “I think the deal will have a massive benefit to our brand and we are confident we will be getting a return on our investment,” says Solanki. “The deal has a media value in excess of $100 million globally and we will be doing some bespoke research afterwards to measure the association with Castrol, as well as performance and analysis that we are trying to build.” Williamson adds: “We have pretty aggressive growth targets for the business this year following a record financial year in 2007, and this deal will have an impact on helping us achieve our business plan.”


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Results so far from business customers and consumers have been positive, and Williamson says Castrol has learned a lot that can be applied to future marketing plans. “The idea of taking part in fewer, bigger things is very much part of our future marketing strategy in Europe. Already, aligning behind one major programme has had some very powerful results and allowed us to achieve things that would not otherwise have been possible – for example, we have been able to develop a single media campaign across all countries in Europe instead of 18 different campaigns, which is very cost effective. Sitting alongside other major sponsors, including adidas and Coca-Cola, Castrol believes it is in its rightful place. “I think this deal provides a platform that can make all employees feel proud of the brand – not just from a marketing perspective, but from being part of the BP group and the Castrol business,” concludes Williamson. Did you know? 58% of football fanatics state that their interest in statistics has increased in the past three years Did you know? Ardent fans are almost as likely to follow a football match online (59%) as they are to watch it live (60%)

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – Atlantis offshore life

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Happy Landings

Life as an offshore platform worker Since entering the Gulf of Mexico in 1995, BP has invested some $14 billion in oil and gas developments. In December last year, the latest fruit of that investment came onstream with the successful commissioning of the Atlantis platform. But an operating platform is only as productive as the people managing it, so Paula Kolmar leaves her desk for the day to discover what it takes to be an offshore worker for BP. Photography by Marc Morrison hest pains hit while you’re offshore on a platform more than 160km (100 miles) out to sea. The pains could signal any number of problems, from indigestion to a heart attack, but you are certain that something is very wrong in your body. You can’t call for an ambulance and your spouse can’t drive you to the emergency room because there is an expanse of ocean between you and land. Your symptoms get worse as the reality of the situation sinks in – scared, worried, in pain, no family around. This is one of the possibilities that people who have chosen life as an offshore worker face every day. BP has a long history in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and vast experience in taking very good care of its platform people; not only their health and safety, which are at the pinnacle of personnel care, but also providing comfortable quarters, tasty food, entertainment and easy access to computers and phones. Offshore production around the world represents a large part of BP’s oil and gas portfolio. It also requires a special group of people to bring that oil and gas from the seabed to the pipelines. BP’s 3,000 GoM offshore workers are required to leave land, home, family and friends for two weeks every 28 days. That means missing a lot of holidays, birthdays, school plays, busted plumbing in the house, the new air conditioner for the car, the daughter that has a new boyfriend, a child’s first day at school. Good or bad, offshore people miss out on 50% of what goes on at home while out in the middle of the Gulf, or any of the waters where BP has platforms. It’s a lifestyle chosen for various reasons, depending on who tells the tale. But two common threads run through the stories: they like it and couldn’t, indeed wouldn’t, do it without the support of their families and friends. I heard Wayne Champagne’s story. He’s worked offshore with several companies for 34 years, the past nine with BP and the most recent 18 months spent on Atlantis, its new platform 240km (150 miles) south of Houma, Louisiana. His work title is subsea production operations tech 1, which is a very specialised area of work on the equipment located on the seafloor. He’s also, and more importantly he says, a husband, father and grandfather. Helicopters are as much a part of offshore workers’ lives as cars are to landlubbers. It’s the only way to travel to a platform. It’s so common for Champagne that I wanted to experience heli-flight to Atlantis myself, to fully appreciate it. In the oil industry, anyone wishing to travel offshore by helicopter must first take a water survival training course called Helicopter Underwater Egress Training (HUET), which is then regularly updated. BP adds an indepth safety course for people working on, or visiting, a platform or production quarters (PQ). Upon completion of each of the two courses, participants receive a certification card (if they pass). Without it, they may not board the helicopter or platform. Travel to the Atlantis PQ begins in Houma, where the heliport (not owned or operated by BP) and check-in counters work just like a typical airport. There are differences, however, that certainly make the trip unique. Helicopter flights generally depart at about 6am, with check-in an hour prior to departure. If you happen to live 560km (350 miles) away in Houston, then the journey begins with a plane trip and a night in a hotel, unless driving through the night sounds appealing. The check-in counters look much like those in an airport. But instead of destinations such as New York, London or Cairo, the ports of call are platforms. BP’s logistics team has already advised the heliport staff of your travel details, so your name is on the manifest list – no confirmation numbers. Travellers present government-issued photo identification and their HUET training card, and are then weighed on the floor scale, as are their bags. This information is critical to proper operation of the helicopter and the correct fuel levels required. Passengers wait until their platform is announced, watch a safety video about


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helicopter travel (required on every trip), go through security and are finally escorted to the aircraft, seated, buckled in, and issued hearing protection. At that early hour, the micro vibrations caused by the rotors lulled most of the 20 passengers to sleep. When I opened my eyes, we were hovering over a postage stamp-sized green and yellow circle attached to a bright red box covered with silver-looking pipes and buildings. As we slowly descended, details of the helipad came into view. It extended way out over the water with no runway. The pilot landed the helicopter as smoothly as parking a car – no bumps, just floating down like a feather. Once off the aircraft and on Atlantis, we dutifully followed our escort to a room where we watched another safety video and were issued colour- and number-coded tags, which were to be worn at all times. The tag is your identification and, more critically, helps you remember which lifeboat you go to in case of emergency. After donning appropriate safety gear, and being assigned sleeping quarters, we were shown the lifeboats, which are suspended on the side of the Atlantis PQ. Good detail to know. With no preconception of what sleeping quarters onboard Atlantis would look like, I was happily surprised to see a room just like the very nice ones found on cruise ships: quite large with one bed and night table on each side of the room, comfortable mattresses, closets, large bathroom and shower, satellite television, DVD player and a phone for internal and external calls. Several lockable wardrobes and drawers are in each room. Champagne explains why: “People leave almost everything locked in their quarters when they return onshore. Since we have a daily laundry service, there’s no need to take anything home to wash, so why not leave it on board? “You put your laundry in a bag labelled with your data, and set it outside of your door. When it’s ready, someone brings it back to your quarters on hangers or folded. It’s the same with the rubbish – just set it outside your room and the rubbish bag is taken away for you. The rooms are cleaned and bed linens are changed regularly.” But on Fridays, the whole crew cleans the Atlantis PQ from top to bottom. It’s like doing cleaning chores at home, not fun but you want it to be clean and shiny because the PQ is home too. The crew are very proud of their Atlantis home and it’s revealed in the way it looks, and the way they talk about it. “Atlantis is my second home. The people are my second family,” Champagne says. “My favourite part of being an offshore worker now is the quality of the people and the work we achieve, but also the PQ itself. BP did a great job with Atlantis.” The galley and dining area operates every hour of every day because there’s always a shift working on the PQ. Set up buffet-style, the food selection includes a salad and fruit bar, plus hot meals such as shrimp, oysters, catfish, meats, vegetables and bread, or you can order something special like a hamburger or an omelette from the chefs. The only difference between Atlantis’s galley and a very fine cafeteria is that you don’t pay for the food, and you can go to it anytime during your 12-hour downtime. Groceries are delivered by boat on Saturdays and there is an extra two-week supply on the PQ at all times. Just in case. A real perk of the dining room is the ocean view. The eating area has several round tables and comfortable chairs. One wall has a television on it, but the back wall looks over part of the platform with an endless sea as a backdrop. To work on a platform is to do so in shifts, as at refineries on land. On Atlantis, employees work for 12 hours with breaks and meals, and are then off for 12 hours during the entire 14 days offshore. According to Champagne, the shifts are arranged so “no one works nights for the whole two weeks. Everyone gets half of their time on days, and half on nights. The first week might be 6pm to 6am. Then rotation occurs, and the second week will be 6am to 6pm.” He says that system helps your body adapt to regular life during the two weeks back home. That time is precious to Champagne – husband and father of four children, and grandfather to seven. “Before I started to work with BP, I had seven days onshore and seven off. My family enjoys camping, so two weeks home means we can travel to campsites anywhere instead of just close to home.” He and his wife Shirley are also building a house themselves: “The extra time really has come in handy. I don’t have to leave her with a bunch of problems to handle, because I have 14 days to plan major parts of the construction,” he says. The life of a platform worker can be difficult for the family at home. Almost anything that happens is left solely to the wife or husband while the other half is on Atlantis. Raising four children by herself 50% of the time would be daunting at the very least. “It takes a very, very special woman to be the wife of a platform worker. Not only does Shirley handle things at home, she worries during bad weather or hurricane season when I’m offshore.” Champagne and his wife were unfortunate to experience firsthand what happens when there’s an emergency while he’s away. But not in the way they might have expected: it was he who had the emergency, while on board Atlantis.


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In November 2007, Champagne was working on the platform when he began to have chest pains. As the pain got worse, he became concerned that something might be seriously wrong. So did the medic on the PQ. As soon as he walked into the medical quarters, the doctor quickly assessed the symptoms, took an electrocardiogram and got him on an intravenous feed. The health, safety and environmental officer and the offshore installation manager were called. Within minutes, a call was made to order an emergency evacuation helicopter to Atlantis. His wife was called and given all the details. Champagne: “I knew she was worried. So was I. But the staff on Atlantis, and then on the helicopter, called her constantly and she was able to get to the hospital before I had even arrived.” The standard of personal care is excellent and, according to Champagne, “BP doesn’t put a price on it, they just do whatever it takes to help us out there. Other health emergencies happen when you’re away, from births to deaths, and everything in between. BP always makes sure we get home.” The preparations for getting someone home quickly from 240km (150 miles) at sea isn’t easy, although the logistical staff make it operate seamlessly. But that’s another story. What happened to Champagne? It took less than four hours from him walking into the medic’s office on Atlantis to being examined by a heart specialist in the hospital onshore. And he’s alive today to tell his tale. Team work: Wayne Champagne credits his wife’s (below) strength for his long career offshore, describing her as a ‘very, very special woman’. Above, offshore workers arrive and leave Atlantis by helicopter. Atlantis statistics Atlantis is designed around the concept of a production quarters floating semi-submersible moored platform, supported by a separate dedicated Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) – the Development Driller 2. The oil and gas is transported to shore through the Mardi Gras Pipeline Transportation System. 200,000 Nameplate capacity of oil production 3,000 Number of BP’s (GoM) offshore workers 2,154 Metre-depth (7,070 feet) of water under platform 2008 Year Atlantis will reach peak production 1995 Year BP began operations in the GoM 240 Kilometres (150 miles) offshore 56 BP’s percentage ownership of Atlantis 50 Projected average platform staff $14 Billion investment BP has made in GoM 7 BP’s oil and gas fields in the GoM 1 Deepest deepwater platform of its kind in the world

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – Computer gaming

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Environmental awareness Game of choice

BP’s Alternative Energy business has teamed up with Electronic Arts to help develop the computer gaming giant’s latest strategy game – SimCity Societies. Along with all the usual construction decisions that budding city planners have come to expect from the brand, this new game gives players the opportunity to choose how to power their metropolis, complete with ensuing climate consequences. Ian Valentine reports. My citizens were getting restless. A period of economic growth achieved by rapid industrialisation had provided jobs for all, financial security, schools, an integrated transport system and hospitals. I thought they were happy. But then the rains came. Storms were now lashing my concrete paradise, flooding the sewers and spreading disease. Crime levels rose with the water, as looters ransacked the shops and factories. Those workers who did not flee the city, stayed at home on strike; and the economy, the bedrock of my strategy, began to crumble. Without decisive action, my virtual city was doomed. I had been playing the new computer game SimCity Societies, the latest in Electronic Arts’s (EA) series of strategy games, which allows players to construct not only the cities they desire, but mould their cultures, societal tendencies and environments as well. Among the many decisions that the town planner must take – including housing, road infrastructure, industry and recreational facilities – the player must choose how to power their new metropolis. One option is to save money by building a sprawling city founded on industrial expansion, where coal power stations belch forth clouds of noxious smoke. In SimCity Societies, this type of city will have no green parks or good air quality, yet the citizens may be rich and happy, if the player gives them everything else they need. However, as I was beginning to discover, the consequences of climate change would eventually take their toll. I could have chosen to create an environmental paradise, where all the energy is renewable, and clear sparkling water flows through swathes of flower-filled parkland. But it would have cost me much more money. And now my city was feeling the effects of my penny-pinching. It should be stressed at this point, that SimCity Societies is not purely focused on climate change, but rather an ‘entertainment’ game in which the player battles to create a happy, successful city. Energy production and its effects on climate change is just one part of that challenge, as it is with any modern city. Using a complex set of algorithms, every decision taken by the player has a knock-on effect in some other part of society. For example, your 20 years’ of economic growth fuelled by high carbon dioxide (CO2) production may eventually result in a tornado, drought or flood that causes disease, civil unrest or financial meltdown. This is where BP Alternative Energy enters the mix, following a ground-breaking partnership with EA. When a player chooses to use renewable energy in the game, such as wind turbines and solar panels, or a lower CO2 emitter, such as natural gas or hydrogen power stations, these power providers are emblazoned with the BP logo. The player has an option of disregarding cleaner energy altogether by building coal fire stations, or rubbish incinerators, however this will be reflected in the happiness of their citizens. Colum Doyle, communications director for Alternative Energy, explains that the game represents a unique opportunity to connect with a demographic that is not easy to reach through traditional channels, and on a topic that is so multi-dimensional. “If you ask people in the street what is the primary cause of CO2 emissions in their society, then the chances are that they will say transport,” he says. “Even a large number of employees in BP, in an online survey, thought that transport was the largest cause.” In fact, at more than 40%, the power sector is the world’s biggest contributor to CO2 emissions – almost twice that of transport. “It’s important to address transport as well as other sectors, and we’re doing that in Alternative Energy,” says Doyle, “but we see in the power sector not only an immense issue and challenge, but also a tremendous opportunity to bring solutions in the form of low carbon technologies that are available today.” That opportunity becomes very clear when you learn that more than 50% of the world’s electricity-generating facilities required to meet projected demand in 2030 have yet to be specified and built. “We know there is a window of opportunity to act and have a major impact,” Doyle continues. “So we wanted to raise awareness of the association between power, CO2 and climate. As we developed our communication plans using a range of traditional channels, we wanted to include something that would access ‘next generation’ audiences, something using digital media in a way that was both entertaining and educational. That was when we turned to the electronic games industry.”

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – Computer gaming

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This was no easy task given BP had limited experience in this area. Get it wrong, and it would look like a try-hard teacher who wants to be cool in front of the kids. “There are serious climate change games on the market, but they tend to be niche,” says Doyle. “Besides, people who play them are more likely to be already fairly attuned to the issue of climate change. So, we started asking the games manufacturers for their advice. We were politely received, but the response was to the point: games are not meant to be educational. If you go down that route on your own, you will fail.” It was then that BP contacted EA, one of the world’s leading electronic games companies and home of the successful The Sims and SimCity games franchise, based in San Francisco, who was devising its next edition of SimCity. It, too, was looking to advance this model to the next level, so it was a case of ‘right time, right place’. “They were immediately taken by our idea, as they wanted a climate change aspect in the game, while we needed a partner to provide the experience that we clearly lacked,” says Doyle. “BP has a long history of choosing the right partner to move into new areas of business, so it seemed natural to team up with a leading player in the market.” In previous SimCity games, there were penalties for pollution, in particular smog caused by sulphur and nitrogen oxides. However, BP persuaded EA to differentiate between local air pollution and CO2 levels. This creates a clear association with climate change and enables the game to measure and monitor CO2 levels resulting from the choices players make in building and powering their city. “This was critically important to both EA and ourselves,” says Doyle. “The SimCity franchise is all about offering choices, but then living with, or dealing with, the consequences. We also wanted the issue of power and CO2 to be about choices – exposing the trade-offs that occur between the economic and environmental costs of those decisions.” Each building in the city has its own carbon rating, while there are easy-to-read graphs that monitor how much CO2 your city is emitting, coupled with indicators to say if you are producing too much. This may come attached with a warning as to the consequences if you continue in this vein. I should have seen it coming. As far as EA was concerned, the partnership was an unprecedented step. “This is the first time that we have ever teamed up with an outside company to advise on aspects of game play and to ensure accuracy,” explains Steve Seabolt, vice president for global brand development of The Sims label at EA. “There has always been a pollutant angle to the SimCity games, but we agreed with BP that there was a need to isolate the impact of CO2. Air pollution was more a phenomenon of the 80s and 90s, while CO2 is the primary environmental concern of this decade.” EA was sympathetic to the educational aspect of energy awareness, but stressed that it would only work if that message was an organic aspect of the game, rather than a commercial gimmick that forced education upon the player. By penalising the player for failing to create a green society, EA had another carrot and stick for the game. BP’s advisers and EA’s programme writers worked closely over a period of months to create a product that was accurate and up-to-date. “We were very impressed with BP’s dedication to ensure the game was accurate,” says Seabolt. “I will admit that there was a bit of consternation coming into a deal with a global energy company. There were plenty of long discussions before we signed. But we asked ourselves what it was that BP was trying to achieve. It was clear that its priority was raising awareness and advancing its alternative energy business. By and large, the reaction from the gaming industry and the press has been favourable. They have been intrigued how the game is able to straddle both entertainment and education, without compromising either. There has been the odd negative story, but whenever a company takes an innovative step, there is bound to be scepticism. That comes with the territory. But do you want to be a leader or follow the pack?” Seabolt himself was part of the Lego generation as a pre-teen, and he believes that construction games such as SimCity appeal to children, and adults, who enjoy building and engineering. The profile of a SimCity gamer is typically male in his 20s or early 30s, although Seabolt is amazed how many young girls are into it too. “It is not hard to imagine players of this game going on to take jobs in town planning or engineering. I’ve encountered many students of engineering who were avid fans of SimCity games. But more than that, I think BP’s presence is realistic to modern life. If you choose to live a green life, then often that is a more expensive route to take. Likewise, town planners who want a green city will have to pay more.” It was a message I would have to take on board if I wanted to save my city. The coal power stations would have to go, in favour of renewable energy and lower CO2 emitters. It would cost me a fortune, but the consequences if I did not would be catastrophic. I would lose the game. Writer biography> Ian Valentine is a feature writer with a background in nature and conservation. He is based in Oxfordshire.

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – BP’s Graham Eaton

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2007 Shell wildlife photographer of the year BP’s Graham Eaton animal portraits: runner up Natural talent

He’s a geologist working for BP in the North Sea, but Graham Eaton is causing a stir in the photographic world thanks to his ability to capture wildlife on film. His runner-up prize in last year’s Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year and win at the Los Angeles International Underwater Photography Awards are just the start of what could eventually become a complete career change. The BP Magazine features a selection of his favourite photographs and asks him about passion, planning and what it feels like to get that elusive shot. Graham Eaton is a man with a talent for taking unusual photographs of the wildlife he sees around him. Marine wildlife is his particular passion. He explains, “It was a childhood fascination ever since watching the diving sequences in the James Bond movie Thunderball.” From there, he discovered Jacques Cousteau’s films and cites David Doubilet and Andy Rouse as photographic inspirations. Animals can be tricky subject matter, but, says Eaton, the key to success is all in the preparation. “With careful planning, you can predict an animal’s behaviour, where it is going to be at certain times. Then, your camera work has to be second nature, otherwise you’ll miss the shot.” Eaton is always thinking about that next, all-important image. “The shot I would like to get is a kingfisher underwater catching a fish. It hasn’t been done in the wild yet.” His one tip for budding photographers is to experiment: “Don’t copy the work of others. Make your own style and look for the alternative viewpoint.” Interest in Eaton’s work is growing daily, something he attributes in large part to his runner-up prize at the 2007 Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year. It has raised awareness of his work, led to interest from numerous publications and an increase in photographic commissions. “I’d really like to get more of those – I love a challenge.” Subject: Mallard Location: North Wales, UK Challenge: I wanted to capture the animal in its world rather than the one it shares with us – a common species from an uncommon viewpoint. Technically, it was very difficult. The water in British lakes is never clear, so lighting is difficult. You have to illuminate the animal, keep the water clear, and preserve the highlights. And that’s after spending five days in the water just gaining the animal’s confidence. Subject: Red-legged partridge Location: Cheshire, UK Challenge: you have to get up early enough to be in position for when these birds come out of the long grass. If they’re already out, then that’s it for the day, you won’t see them. I also like to get down at eye-level when I’m working. Subject: Lionfish Location: Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt Challenge: I wanted to capture the lionfish surrounded by its bait and chose an angle that makes you feel as though you’re coming in with it as part of the hunt. This photo was taken with a 12-24mm lens, so I was extremely close – the lens would have been 20cm (eight inches) away. Subject: Hare Location: Cheshire, UK Challenge: the issue here is getting this close to the hares – I was about three metres (nine feet) away. You have to arrive in the dark, know where they’re going to be and what they’ll do. More importantly, you’ll only get one shot – as soon as they hear the click of the camera, they’re off. Subject: Red squirrel Location: Lancashire, UK

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – BP’s Graham Eaton

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Challenge: I wanted to photograph the squirrel in spring to capture his ear tufts – they are much better developed in spring, so time of year was the main challenge. I also wanted a cheeky image. It’s incredible, as he’s only holding on with one toenail. Subject: Hoverfly Location: My garden, UK Challenge: this is incredibly difficult to capture. It is a macro shot and I only had a depth of field of about three centimetres (one inch). So, to get that much depth, plus the right shutter speed, I needed to use four flash guns to give the right light and freeze the action. I took between 300 and 400 shots to get this one. Subject: Napoleon Wrasse Location: Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt Challenge: this wasn’t particularly difficult to capture as you can get quite close. However, if you look carefully, you can see the hieroglyphs on his face. I was commissioned to get this shot specifically to capture the blues. To bring them out, I had to be subtle – the temptation would be to concentrate on the yellows and you would lose the detail. Subject: Great black-backed gull fighting a herring gull for a mackerel Location: Cardigan Bay, Wales, UK Challenge: I wanted this to be taken at eye-level, so that you feel like you are part of the feeding frenzy, getting in on the action. You don’t notice immediately, but there are two beaks in this photo – the one who has the fish and the one who’s clamped his beak round the other’s.

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – Worldview

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BP’s impact on the world Spring 2008

1. »Canada Oil sands venture BP has made a move into the Canadian oil sands business by acquiring a half share in the Sunrise field in Alberta, operated by Husky Energy. In turn, Husky has taken on a half share in BP’s Toledo oil refinery (right) in Ohio. “Toledo and Sunrise are excellent assets,” says Tony Hayward, BP’s group chief executive. “BP’s move into oil sands is an opportunity to build a strategic, material position and the huge potential of Sunrise is the ideal entry point for BP.” The Sunrise oil sands field is expected to be sanctioned in 2008, with first production of bitumen in 2012, building to 200,000 barrels of oil a day by the end of the next decade, with a 40-year production plateau. 2. »Trinidad & Tobago Production start Natural gas production has begun at the Mango and Cashima fields, offshore Trinidad. Mango is located in water depths of 72 metres (235 feet) and was first discovered in 1971. Further appraisal took place in 2000 and work to develop the field has continued since then. Cashima, meanwhile, was discovered in 2001 and is located in water depths of 80 metres (270 feet). The fields have been efficiently developed using a single, unmanned platform of the same standardised design first used for the Cannonball field. 3. »Global Reserves replacement BP replaced its annual production by 112% in 2007, taking its proved reserves of oil and gas to 17.8 billion barrels. It also added some 2.4 billion new barrels to its non-proved resource base which now stands at a further 42.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Based on an oil price of $60 a barrel, the strength of this position – reinforced by recent access to new opportunities in Oman, Libya and Colombia, along with heavy oil in Canada – supports production potential of around 4.3 million barrels a day by 2012, according to BP chief executive Tony Hayward. 4. »Abu Dhabi Hydrogen plant Hydrogen Energy and Masdar – Abu Dhabi’s initiative for renewable and alternative energy and clean technology – have signed an agreement to work together on the front-end engineering design of an industrial-scale, hydrogen-fired power generation project with carbon capture. The plant would be located in Abu Dhabi. Natural gas would be processed to create hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2). The hydrogen would generate low-carbon electricity and the CO2 would be captured and injected into a producing oil field, where it could replace natural gas currently being used to maintain pressure. 5. »Egypt Gas find A significant gas discovery has been made at record depths in the Nile Delta. The Satis find is located in the North El Burg Offshore, Nile Delta concession. The well was drilled to a Nile Delta record depth of more than 6,500 metres (21,000 feet) and is the first significant high-pressure, high-temperature, offshore Oligocene discovery. 6. »Ukraine Innovation award

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TNK-BP has been named most innovative company in the Ukrainian ‘Guardia’ award scheme. The Lisichansk Refinery is the main oil refining asset of TNK-BP in Ukraine. Prior to the arrival of investors in 2000, the refinery lost 34% of its rated capacity, oil refining dropped to one sixth of its former volume, and staggered operation and emergency shutdowns became usual for the refinery. “Being chosen for this award is great,” says Dmitry Logvinenko, executive director, LLC TNK-BP Commerce. “After seven years of working in Ukraine, the company has become a leader in the fuels market owing to non-standard and innovative solutions in technologies of management, oil refining, and trading.” 7. »US Retail sale BP is selling all of its US-based company-owned and company-operated convenience stores. The majority of sites will be sold to franchisees. The sale will take place over the next two years. “By tapping into the entrepreneurial experience and knowledge of local station owners, we will build a strong franchise network that will help us grow our business,” says Fiona MacLeod, president of BP US Convenience Retail. BP will also move to a single franchised convenience store brand – ampm – in the US (below). “The brand has a 94% awareness rating west of the Rockies, and a strong international presence in Japan, Brazil, and Mexico. We are excited about growing the brand in the eastern US,” says MacLeod.

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – BP Faces

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Long haul Paul Box / road train driver

Photography> Kevin Scott You see a lot when you’re a tanker driver. Countryside, cities…kangaroos. For Australia’s road train drivers, marsupials are just one of many outback inhabitants that you have to keep an eye out for while on the road. “A lot of things that happen in the northwest are unusual,” says Paul Box, a road train driver for BP in the northwest area of Western Australia. “Camels, goats, kangaroos and bullocks, plus the cyclone season keeps it interesting.” Road trains are a common sight in remote areas of Australia. At average lengths of 54 metres (180 feet), and comprising two or more trailers, they can transport up to around 100,000 litres of fuel (22,000 gallons) in one go. The 45ºC (113ºF) heat can get to people, but Box takes it in his stride. “My biggest challenge is keeping the truck clean in these conditions.” l

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – Archive

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Strike it lucky

In May this year, BP will celebrate 100 years since the first commercial discovery of oil in Iran. Entrepreneur William Knox D’Arcy had acquired the oil concession from the Shah of Persia, and ploughed his life savings into the hunt. By 1905 however, D’Arcy had formed the Concessions Syndicate Ltd with Burmah Oil as his partner; Burmah injected new capital into the hunt and took over management of the firm. After eight years of searching, chief explorer George Reynolds finally sent word to London on 26th May 1908 that his team had struck black gold at Masjid-i-Sulaiman. The BP Magazine delves into the archives to discover a wealth of treasures documenting the run-up to the discovery and ‘first oil’. Far left: known as Number 1 well (M1), this is the discovery well used at Masjid-i-Sulaiman, southwest Iran. Right: an ancestor of The BP Magazine – Naft-i-Iran was Anglo-Persia’s corporate magazine. Below: the telegram sent by George Reynolds to London stating, in code, that oil had been struck. Top: the BP Archive holds letter books containing important early correspondence, including this letter from George Reynolds to The Concessions Syndicate – the group of men now financing the exploration – confirming the discovery of oil on 26th May. Right: Reynolds (seated left) takes lunch with two colleagues during a geology expedition in the early 1900s. Top: Number 1 discovery well at Masjid-i-Sulaiman, 1908. The well first struck oil in commercial quantities at 4am on 26th May that year. It was drilled to 360 metres (1,180 feet) and the resulting fountain of oil reached almost 25 metres (82 feet) into the air. Left: a power of attorney document. William Knox D’Arcy signed over decision-making powers to his chief explorer, Reynolds. Above: the original Masjid-i-Sulaiman map detailing the area and wells drilled. Above: portraits of William Knox D’Arcy, the wealthy entrepreneur, who obtained the original oil concession from the Shah of Persia, kick-starting the search for oil. By 1908, D’Arcy’s role was extremely limited, as Burmah Oil had taken over management of the exploration by this time. It is believed he was one of the last to hear that oil had indeed been struck. In 1909, D’Arcy, who had never visited Persia, agreed to exchange his share of the assets of the Concessions Syndicate Ltd, including the concession itself, for shares in the Burmah Oil Company and a seat on the board of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Above: a plaque commemorating the drilling of the first discovery well at Masjid-i-Sulaiman. Below left: oil seepage was a common sight on the Iranian landscape prior to any extensive drilling expeditions, since the oil lay so close to the surface. In some areas, black gold could be found seeping and forming small pools on the surface, which locals would collect when needed. Below right: some of the papers kept at the BP Archive are personnel records, including this entry for George Reynolds documenting, among other things, his salary. Top: the F7 well head from Masjid-i-Sulaiman, which was preserved at the company’s London headquarters until being moved to the BP Archive in 2006. Number 1 well remained in Iran and is due to be the centrepiece of a new museum. Above: F7 well head in situ at Masjid-i-Sulaiman. It was installed in 1911 and remained operational until 1926.

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008 – Parting Shot

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Ship shape: Photographer Simon Kreitem visits the BP-operated Greater Plutonio vessel in Angola, where bespoke training programmes, coupled with great teamwork, have engineered a successful start to production.

Documents

BP Magazine, Issue One 2008