Our business model
From the deep sea to the desert, from rigs to retail, we deliver energy products and services to people around the world. We provide customers with fuel for transport, energy for heat and light, power for industry, lubricants to keep engines moving and the petrochemicals products used to make everyday items such as paints, clothes and packaging.
We have a diverse portfolio across businesses, resource types and geographies. Having upstream, downstream and renewables businesses, along with well-established trading capabilities, helps to mitigate the impact of commodity pricing cycles. Our geographic reach gives us access to growing markets and new resources, as well as diversifying exposure to geopolitical events. We are helping to meet the dual challenge of society's need for more energy while reducing emissions through our 'reduce, improve, create' framework.
We believe that our long history, well-recognized brands and customer offers, combined with our unique partnership with Rosneft, help differentiate us from our peers.
Our role in society
The energy we produce helps support economic growth and improve quality of life for millions of people. We strive to be a world-class operator, a responsible corporate citizen and a great employer.
We believe the societies and communities we work in should benefit from our presence. We aim to create positive, meaningful and sustainable impacts in those communities through our social investments.
We contribute to economies around the world by employing local people, helping to develop national and local suppliers, and through the funds we pay to governments from taxes and other agreements.
Creating value
Finding oil and gas
New access allows us to renew our portfolio, discover additional resources and replenish our development options. We focus our exploration activities in the areas that are competitive in the portfolio, and develop and use technology to reduce costs and risks.
Developing and extracting oil and gas
We develop the resources that meet our return threshold and produce hydrocarbons that we then sell to the market or distribute to our downstream facilities. Our upstream pipeline of future projects gives us choice about which we pursue. We also seek to grow or extend the life of existing fields – such as our Clair Ridge project, which is helping unlock additional resources from the Clair field in the UK North Sea.
Transporting and trading
We move oil and gas through pipelines and by ship, truck and rail. We also trade a variety of products including oil, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, power and carbon products, as well as derivatives and currencies. BP’s traders serve more than 12,000 customers across some 140 countries in a year. Our customers range from independent power producers to utilities and municipalities.
We are the largest trader of natural gas in North America. We use our market intelligence to analyse supply and demand for commodities across our global network.
Manufacturing and marketing fuels and products
We produce refined petroleum products at our refineries and supply distinctive fuels and convenience retail services to consumers. Our advantaged infrastructure, logistics network and key partnerships help us to have differentiated fuels businesses and deliver compelling customer offers, including lower carbon products.
Our lubricants business has premium brands and access to growth markets. It also leverages technology and customer relationships, all of which we believe gives us competitive advantage. We serve automotive, industrial, marine and energy lubricant markets across the world.
In petrochemicals our proprietary technology solutions deliver leading cost positions compared to our competitors. In addition to our own petrochemicals plants, we work with partners and license our technology to third parties.
Generating renewable energy
We have been investing in renewables for many years. Our focus is on biofuels, biopower, wind energy and solar energy. We operate a biofuels business in Brazil, using one of the world’s most sustainable and advantaged feedstocks to produce renewable ethanol and power. We also provide renewable power through our significant interests in onshore wind energy in the US, and develop and deploy technology to drive efficiency.
And in solar energy we target the growing demand for large-scale solar projects worldwide through Lightsource BP.
Venturing
We invest in high-tech companies to help accelerate and commercialize new technologies, products and business models. Our focus is on five areas that are core to our strategy for advancing the energy transition: advanced mobility, bio and low carbon products, carbon management, digital transformation and power and storage.