BP

03 November 2009 -- BP, and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), announced today that they have signed a technical service contract with Iraq's state-owned South Oil Company (SOC) to expand production from the Rumaila oilfield, near Basra in southern Iraq

The signing follows BP's successful bid for the contract with CNPC in Baghdad in June.

The consortium led by BP (38 per cent) with partners CNPC (37 per cent) and the Iraq government's representative State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO - 25 per cent), has agreed to nearly triple the Rumaila field's output to almost 3 million barrels of oil a day (b/d), which would make it the world's second largest producing oilfield.    » read more »

10/30/2009 -- WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today announced it is issuing $87,430,000 in proposed penalties to BP Products North America Inc. for the company’s failure to correct potential hazards faced by employees. The fine is the largest in OSHA’s history. The prior largest total penalty, $21 million, was issued in 2005, also against BP.    » read more »

(Chicago, Ill. - October 19, 2009) In response to a citizen petition on Indiana's air permit modification for BP's Whiting Refinery, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that it has accepted some issues while denying others. In August 2008, the Environmental Law & Policy Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, Hoosier Environmental Council, Save the Dunes and Sierra Club petitioned EPA to formally object to the state's modification of BP’s operating permit for an expansion project to refine high-sulfur Canadian crude oil.    » read more »

Agency Decides in Favor of Citizens and Environmental Groups

CHICAGO (October 19, 2009) - The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued an objection to the operating permit for BP North America’s refinery in Whiting, IN that will require the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to rewrite the permit.    » read more »

OSLO, NORWAY—June 16, 2009—GE Oil & Gas, a world leading company in oil and gas advanced technology equipment and services, today announced that it has been selected by BP to conduct two initial engineering studies for the Foinaven oil field, for subsea processing and power-from-shore systems respectively.

The initial engineering studies, which will involve obtaining accurate data for field development and its technical and commercial feasibility, represent a continuation of work already completed by GE Oil & Gas to support BP in developing the Foinaven field for future production enhancement. The target completion date for the initial engineering studies is the third quarter of 2009.    » read more »

Ultrasonic flow meters will help improve productivity and efficiency for new BP refinery

Billerica, Mass. – June 17, 2009 — BP America placed a $1.1 million order for flow meters from GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies (NYSE: GE). As global energy demand prompts refiners, such as BP, to increase refining capacity and maximize the production of distillates, they are expanding and building new delayed coker units. GE’s flow meters will be used to monitor 36 critical flow points for a new coker unit being built as part of BP Whiting’s multi-billion dollar refinery expansion.    » read more »

In Turbulent Year Developing World Leapfrogs Sluggish OECD in Demand for Energy

June 10, 2009
-- In a climate of unprecedented turbulence, global energy markets followed the same extreme pattern as the world economy in general during 2008.

Prices first rose to record highs as economic growth boomed in the first half of the year. Then they collapsed as the global economy abruptly reversed and plunged into recession in the wake of the financial crisis.

But the year was also remarkable for another reason - less dramatic but, arguably, just as profound in its implications for the long term. For the first time ever, according to the 2009 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, the developing world led by China leapfrogged OECD nations in the consumption of primary energy.    » read more »

Agreement covers 66 MW including a 46 MW single installation. BP Solar to supply crystalline PV modules with an innovative energy guarantee.

28 May 2009 -- RGE Energy AG is partnering with BP Solar in planning one of the world's largest solar projects. The large-scale PV installation with over 46 megawatt peak (MWp) will be built in Koethen, Saxony-Anhalt. Around 210,000 crystalline photovoltaic modules with an output of 220 watt peak each will be supplied by BP Solar and installed by RGE Energy AG.

Reyad Fezzani, CEO of BP Solar, and Elias Issa, CEO of RGE Energy AG, announced the news in Munich at 'Intersolar', the world's largest solar exhibition.    » read more »

27 May 2009 -- BP and the Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR) consortium today announced that they have agreed a succession plan to appoint a new independent chief executive officer (CEO) of TNK-BP by the end of the year.

The TNK-BP board of directors unanimously supported the appointment of two experienced executives to senior positions in TNK-BP. Each has the credentials to become the new CEO.

The first is Pavel Skitovich, formerly a member of the executive board of Russian private investment firm, Interros and former general director of Polyus Gold Mining Group. The second, Maxim Barsky, will join TNK-BP from West Siberia Resources where until 2008 he served as a managing director and is currently a board member.    » read more »

27 May 2009 -- Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola (Sonangol) and BP Exploration (Angola) Limited today announced the 'Oberon' oil discovery in ultra-deepwater Block 31, offshore Angola.

This is the eighteenth discovery made by BP in Block 31 and is located in the southern portion of Block 31 about 335 kilometres northwest of Luanda and 4.3 kilometres to the north-east of the Dione discovery.

Oberon-1 was drilled in a water depth of 1624 metres and reached a total depth of 3622 metres TVD below sea level. The well test results confirmed the capacity of the reservoir to flow in excess of 5000 barrels/day under production conditions.    » read more »

WASHINGTON -- May 21, 2008 – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) convened a hearing this morning to examine the explosive rise in oil prices in recent months. The hearing featured testimony from executives of five major oil companies – ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, BP America and Shell.

Exxon building, Houston, Texas: Photo by Tom Haymes (CC)    » read more »

Washington, D.C. -- May 21, 2008 -- Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned the top oil industry executives on the skyrocketing price of oil at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

In his opening remarks, Senator Specter noted the primacy of the problem:

Gas prices, May 2008: Photo by aaron@digtialcole (CC)

“We are obviously in a crisis, national, international, with the escalating costs of oil and the intolerable prices of gasoline at the pump. It's important that we bear all of our resources to try to figure out what to do about it.”    » read more »

February 12, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. --U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Barack Obama (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) today sent a letter to the Regional Administrator of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - Region V, Mary A. Gade, asking for a comprehensive analysis of the draft air and construction permits that were recently issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) for the proposed expansion of BP's oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana.    » read more »

February 12, 2008 -- [WASHINGTON, D.C.] —U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Barack Obama (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) today sent a letter to the Regional Administrator of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – Region V, Mary A. Gade, asking for a comprehensive analysis of the draft air and construction permits that were recently issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) for the proposed expansion of BP’s oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana.    » read more »

December 31, 2007, Anchorage, Alaska – Alaska Governor Sarah Palin today announced that the State of Alaska and BP Exploration (Alaska) Incorporated have resolved a tax dispute concerning outstanding corporate income tax liabilities.

The taxes related to disputed amounts for tax years 2000 through 2002. Alaska tax statutes require the specific terms and conditions of the dispute and agreement to be kept confidential.

“I am very pleased with this settlement and appreciate BP’s willingness to work with the State of Alaska and come to a fair resolution,” Governor Palin said.    » read more »